Development news in Latvia outside Greater Riga

[Gatis]

Time to open this thread too... although it would be less active than the thread about Riga...

Liepaja "Baltic Sea Park" park to be built until 2006
French investors "Bouygues Batiment International" are completing the necessary design works and permitting to start construction of large entertainment park in Liepaja. Its planned costs - 53 mio EUR.
The construction should start in early 2005 and be completed during one year.
The park will include 300 separate housing units for guests, tropical water entertainment park, hotels, tennis fields, restaurants, cafe, shops and numerous sports installations.
The project will create 1500 new working places in Liepaja.

Pictures from "Gundara Viksnas arhitektu birojs" Webpage - www.gvbirojs.lv








Total area of construction - 24,7 ha. Total area of housing units - 67 000 m2. Capacity of tropical water entertainment park - 2100 people.

Investors today have announced that they are ready to support the logistics to have part of the World Ice Hockey Championship in Liepaja. It has been decided that Riga will have the large ice hockey hall, but still are on-going discussions who will have the second ice-hockey hall - Liepaja or Riga.

[Gatis]

The dream of Cybercity in Valmiera
For a while Valmiera was the fastest developing city in Latvia with successful industry - in last years the city somehow has slowed down. Here is located also the Highschool of Vidzeme.
City together with the highschool and IT companies are planning to develop a new IT technology incubator - Cybercity - where university and city will unite their forces to create a row of smaller IT enterprises and institutions.
Unfortunately over the last year there is not much heard about this project - just the wish of involved parties to go on with the project. But we can look at the design of the main Cybercity building... Architects "Silis, Zabers un Klava"






Technical design of the building should be ready now and earlier there was announced that the construction will start this summer... Nothing heard

[Gatis]

9 mio EUR living quartal is built in Jelgava
I decided to leave Jelgava out of Greater Riga

In the middle fo September there would be completed the first 7-floor building of new district in Jelgava. Investor - local "Alia īpašumi" Ltd. Total area of the new district would be 3,2 ha. It will include three 7-floor apartment buildings, kindergarden, shop, office premises in the first floors. There would be more than 150 new apartments.
Whole district would be ready in 2006. In 2008 not far from this district should be built new road to Riga. (so this is part of Greater Riga)
Sorry, can not find pictures.

[Gatis]

This time again from Liepaja:
Liepajas Metalurgs starts 100 mio EUR investments
Liepajas Metalurgs is the only large metallurgy factory in Baltics. There is no iron ore mined in Baltics, although Latvia has large deposits which would cover the needs of Earth for centuries... the shallowest of these deposits are 600 m deep But Liepaja factory is in very good location because it is in harbour city and also - it is collector of metall scrap from Baltics.

Company established in 1882. Currently working 2800 people, but one fifth of Liepaja people are dependant on this company. Produces steel, also alloyed steel, different simple steel products - reinfored bars, wire, nails etc. Over the last years the company is making very good business and finally their dream comes true - they start large overall modernisation program! Total exchange of technologies and large rebuilding expected.

Liepajas Metalurgs in the beginning of 20th century:

Work in the factory now:

[ch1le]

100 mio euro... NICE!you got so much iron ore... why not use it? estonian has it too, well in bogs. What other natural resources Latvia has?

[Gatis]

Our iron ore, which is in bogs, has been used in late Iron age already This is really tested in 1960ies - 1970ies by our geologists. There is very little left and that (vivianite) is better for making paints. And the mining of the deep iron-ore is not feasible financially. Even gold in such depth would not be financially feasible.
Latvia has not much geological resources... but I am rather happy about this - we are forced now to develop sound economy ourselves.
We have got good building stones: gypsum (5 km from Riga!), dolostone, limestone. Clay for making bricks. Should be some oil in the sea and there is a little also inland. Sulphuric springs and sulphuric mud in Kemeri will bring rich people from all EU over here - this thing can do wonderful things to your bad health

Forest has been our main natural resource over these hard years. Now the intensity of cutting forest should go down and industry comes in its place.

[LatvianGG]

Industrial park near Olaine, not far from the border of the Riga municipality, near the highway to Jelgava looks very nice.... I hope still some new companies will host there.

[Gatis]

Factory Latvijas finieris investing 70 mio EUR over next three years, new factory in Rezekne
Wood processing factory "Latvijas finieris", which is located in Bolderaja district (far-away corner of Riga, some 14 km from centre). "Latvijas finieris" currently is one of largest plywood producers in the world, exporting 80% of their production.
Sample of their production

Now the factory has announced about construction of brand new factory in Rezekne City, some 220 km east from Riga.

[Gatis]

Tomorrow modern waste polygon to be opened near Liepaja
State has divided Latvia in 11 "waste management" districts - in each district would be built top-notch waste storage polygon, there are already established regional waste management companies, there would be developed full waste planning and recycling system up to technologically possible level. Large scale waste separation program in Latvia has not been started but for 10 years already there are small pilot projects trying to teach people to separate waste.
Luckily we managed to be faster than foreign waste management companies and there is established economically most optimal waste management system in Latvia - for sure it would be among the most efficient in the world.
Tomorrow would start operating No. 4 of the 11 modern waste polygons - Grobina waste polygon will serve Liepaja City and district. The first three were built in Talsi, Ventspils, Riga. The creation of these enteprises was extremely complicated - each of them requires conclusion of agreement between some 50 - 100 municipalities, each municipality invests something.
Map of "waste management" regions in Latvia. Orange - in implementation, waste polygons built, other investments on-going. Grey - design ready, blue - design under preparation, green - early planning, red - projects not started.

Lining the Grobina waste polygon:

Biogas collection system - there would be produced electricity from waste gas.

Lining the bottom of the landfill. In background - Grobina windpark.


Modern waste landfill is very complicated building. It requires extremely detailed geological investigations, there is developed complex system of leachate (wastewater from the waste) collection, lining with clay, plastic and again clay. There is weighing system, the collected waste is covered with plastic coating to collect methane coming out from it.
Most of the existing landfills in Latvia have been closed, the waste from there is moved to the new landfills (there is less impact on environment) or - if geological investigations show that there is no environmental effect on groundwater - covered with clay and soil, planted with wood. In total there are recultivated some 400 landfills already.
The old landfill of Liepaja city was covered with plastic and there is installed piping which collects methane for energy production - here picture of this system:


Liepaja landfill was the first environmental project of the world, which used "emission trade" model through World Bank - rich countries of the world payed large part of this project - spending some millions for environmental investments in Latvia give bigger environmental effect than spending them a thome, where environmental technologies are omnipresent already. Next projects after Liepaja landfill to use "emission trade" are currently on-going - next was eucalypt plantations in Brasil, wind-farm in Colombia etc.

[NorthStar77]

Cool!!

This reminds me of how much difference there is between garbage handling nowadays and few decades ago. Out in the Oslofjord, there is visible reminder of this. Before, there was two islands called Langøyene. Then, in 1904, the sea between the two islands were used as garbage dump, until 1949. Now there is only one island...It has become quite a popular recreational area, because afterall "time heals all wounds" as we say. But still, I've heard people say that the snow always melt there in the winter....

The two islands that has now become one

[Gatis]

"But still, I've heard people say that the snow always melt there in the winter...."
It should be like this - because for some 150 years the garbage will emit methane which will melt the snow in wintertime.

[Gatis]

One more small news from Liepaja City - there are many things happening:
Finally beautiful house at waterfront named "Novatoru klubs" is under reconstruction. Saw it some days ago there... Unfortunately the reconstruction will add some stupid tube-ike structure. Pictures from architect's site - "G. Viksnas birojs".


This will be done inside when the building would be ready

[Gatis]

Wind park to be built near Ventspils, two more wind parks approved
I personally know of 40 wind turbines in Latvia currently, but should be more. Currently total yield of wind energy in Latvia - above 25 MW.
Currently Latvian Ministry of Economy is issuing permit for 6 wind turbines, total yield 12 MW. Developer - Rietumu elektrosistemas.
There have been already approved two more wind parks with yield 10,45 MW.

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by Gatis

Unfortunately the reconstruction will add some stupid tube-ike structure.

You said it, Gatis!

How is it possible that architects/people think such a structure next to an old building, even a reconstructed one, should be in any way cheered or saluted?

Stupid indeed!

[LatvianGG]

Funny, but true...

The management of Ventspils Harbour has announced that there will be built a new juice terminal, a new project which will be the first in Northern Europe. Similar terminals are meaned to be only in the Netherlands and Belgium. It will recieve refrigerator-ships with this drinkable liquid stuff where from all major juices are made, and send it further to Russia and Central Asia. The terminal will have also storage tanks where max 20000 tonns of the concentrated juice can be stored. Total investments of "Baltic Juice terminal " is mentioned to reach 12 million USD.

Cheers!

[Oberleutnant]

If that additional cylinder part means that the whole building will be renovated, I think it's ok. Actually, I've seen lot worse modern additions to old edifices.

[Gatis]

Regarding the juice terminal - hope that finally they will build it. Ventspils is speaking about it some 6 years already...

[ch1le]

Juice terminal? like whathe? they really transport Juice in tankers? kewl... juice pipelines, and terrorists blowing them up... then in CNN i hear, Juice prises again skyrocket to last months lvls, if the terrorist keep blowing them up and Brentjuice still increases prices, no one knows what might happen!
how big of a market is there for Juice anyway?

[Monkey]

(referring to a post by Gatis further up and my reaction)

Originally Posted by Oberleutnant

If that additional cylinder part means that the whole building will be renovated, I think it's ok. Actually, I've seen lot worse modern additions to old edifices.

But Ober, that's sheer BLACKMAIL!!!!

[LatvianGG]

@ ch1le:


Yeah, you know, Russians stop pumping oil trough Ventspils, so what the heck, they had to find another way to make the harbour work So now we will store juice....