The Port of Tallinn supervisory council has okayed the construction of a concrete facility at an industrial park in the eastern part of Muuga Harbor. A total 200 million kroons (12.8 million euros) will be invested in the project. Construction should begin within the next few weeks, with completion set for spring 2007. Neinar Seli, chairman of the supervisory council, told the Baltic News Service that this was one of the port's first projects in the eastern part of Muuga. He said the project should generate earnings from port fees, adding that other investors would hopefully follow Rand & Tuulberg to the Muuga industrial park.
The Latvian steel construction company Marupes Metalmeistars is planning to open a plant in Jelgava. The firm already has two plants in the Olaine industrial park near Riga. About 400,000 euros have already been invested in the park, with total investments set for 800,000 euros, said company director Andris Skolmeistars. He said European Union funds would most likely be used for the project, which, based on the Baltics' construction boom, will no doubt be a success. The company will also cooperate with Finland and Sweden.
The Johvi Industrial Park foundation, based in Estonia's northeast oil-shale mining region, has put up for auction a 36-meter-high dirt hill. The money earned from the sale will go toward developing the park, as well as winning more vacant land. The foundation plans to sell two dirt hills that cover an area of seven hectares. The hills consist of a mixture of oil shale and unfractioned chippings extracted in the 1950s and '60s. The land for sale consists of 562,000 tons of the material. "If the mixture is worked through and the chippings fractioned, it could be used as filling material," the park manager, Teet Kuusmik, told the Baltic News Service. "Possible ways of using the oil shale will become clear after an analysis of its heating value is made." Kuusmik was reluctant to guess at the possible price of the hill. "After all, it will be bought by somebody who needs chippings, who will be prepared to pay something for it," he said.
Hjellegjerde Baltija, the Lithuanian subsidiary of Norway's Hjellegjerde, plans to invest 25 million litas (7.25 million euros) in the construction of a furniture plant in Panevezys, one of the country's poorest cities. The new factory will be built on a plot of land close to a Norwegian industrial park, the Panevezys municipality said. The land plot has been acquired by Scandeka, a Norwegian company. "We are doing well in Panevezys. We have good conditions here but we need to expand. Our company's board of directors has decided to expand in furniture," said Hjellegjerde Baltija director Ole Jacob Bonesmo. The new buildings are planned to be constructed by July 2007. Hjellegjerde is one of Scandinavia's leading furniture manufacturers, with annual sales of about 450 million Norwegian crowns and a workforce of around 500. The group also has production units in Norway and Thailand.
