Turkish investors lose hope to revive metallurgy in Liepaja - Latvian Television

RIGA - Turkish-capital company Liepaja Steel has abandoned the plan to relaunch a metallurgical enterprise in Liepaja and will take the steel melting furnace it bought three years ago to Turkey, Latvian Television (LTV) reported on Monday.

According to the LTV report, the company makes no secret of its disappointment over a failure to reach an agreement with Liepaja City Council and the administration of Liepaja Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on starting operations. Liepaja, meanwhile, is determined to go ahead with a plan to create an environmentally friendly industrial park on the site of the former Liepaja Metalurgs plant. 

Lawyers of Liepaja Steel are currently arranging the necessary documentation for the dismantling of the steel melting furnace of Liepaja Metalurgs. The company's board did not know when it would be removed from Liepaja, but it is not interested in delaying the process so that it does not have to pay rent for the land under the furnace any longer. According to LTV, the company's costs since the purchase of the furnace have been very high.

The entire area of about 120 hectares of Liepajas Metalurgs belongs to the Liepaja SEZ and the municipality, which five years ago signed a letter of intent with the Ministry of Economics and the Latvian Investment and Development Agency to develop a modern industrial park.

Currently, Liepaja City Council and SEZ are working to attract European funds to clean up the former metal company's site from historical contamination, such as fuel oil and radiation, in the hope that the planned environmentally friendly industrial park could then develop more rapidly.

KVV Liepajas Metalurgs was declared insolvent in September 2016.