Liepaja
Liepaja’s population is the third largest in Latvia (94,800), and it holds second place as an industrial center. The leading industries are metal processing, including the only steel plant in the Baltic countries, “Liepajas Metalurgs,” and textile, wood and food processing. Rapid economic growth started in 1997 when the Law on the Liepaja Special Economic Zone was adopted, providing highly competitive fiscal incentives for investment.
Efforts to build a modern transportation infrastructure in the ice-free seaport include the international airport, arterial roads and the railway system, which is helping to overcome the city’s biggest problem – the conversion of the Soviet marine base that was once inhabited by roughly 30,000 people. Liepaja is also the educational and cultural center of Western Latvia.
In the Cities of Change Network, Liepaja is developing a regional waste management strategy. Collaboration with neighboring municipalities will overcome the inefficiency of a waste management system operated by many small, local Latvian governments.