RIGA - Many Latvians remember when the Nordic Industrial Park opened a few years ago in Olaine, just outside Riga, against a backdrop of fanfare and hoopla. Now, however, that park is appealing to the government for support in raising development to a new qualitative level.
Last week the park management held a press conference informing of a letter it has sent to the Economy Ministry asking the government to give industrial parks special status and to develop a plan for their subsequent development.
As NIP argued, "if it's good for industry then it's good for Latvia."
Elita Moiseja, director of marketing at NIP said that a strong industrial park sector will guarantee the country's attractiveness for small and medium enterprises looking to relocate to Latvia.
If the government is interested in developing business and attracting foreign investment, then why not support us?" she asked.
The logic is tough to refute. As she explained, 79.3 percent of companies that lease space in industrial parks are manufacturing enterprises, while 58.3 percent are international companies. A fourth, said Moiseja, are small and medium enterprises.
"We're not asking for financial assistance," she said. "Sixty percent of industrial parks in Latvia are founded on private capital. But one must understand that the creation of a new incubator for businessmen is extremely expensive. If the government would give us special status, impart some privileges, and local authorities modernize infrastructure, the effectiveness of work would increase."
Experts say there are approximately 20 areas that are trying to pass themselves off as industrial parks, but only six actually meet the entire specter of services, including such things as security and a cafeteria.
"Unfortunately, the industrial park business in Latvia is taking shape slowly compared with other EU member countries, such as Belgium," said Moiseja.
Mikhail Morozov, general director of Colliers International, a real estate consultancy, suggested that a classification scheme be drawn up in order to qualify what kind of industrial parks Latvia possess and their overall condition. These concrete criteria will go far in attracting new clients, including foreign ones, he said.
"Using experience in other countries and Latvian economic indicators, one can say that the industrial park market will develop. However, the speed of development and the quality of supply will depend on these parks' creators," he said.
Despite the apparent inevitability of industrial parks, many enterprises aren't in a rush to abandon their own premises. As the Russian language daily Telegraf reports, many businessmen complain that rent prices in modern industrial parks are too high. Mentality, no doubt, also plays a factor in that many business owners would prefer to own their own premises despite the lack of quality rather than rent someone else's.
