Sea

The inhabitants of Klaipeda are tired of the port’s noise, dust, unpleasant odors, and running a high risk of potential accidents involving overflows of hazardous materials. The city of Klaipeda has problems and Lithuanian government takes away half of the Port Authority’s profits to cover their budget.

The city feels cheated

These claims have been entered in the official address by the Marine Culture Coordinating Board to the country’s President, Chairwoman of the Seimas, Prime Minister and the Minister of Transport. The address was supported by the Klaipeda City Municipality and Klaipeda State Sea Port Authority. This address was made in reaction to the fact that the Port Authority will have to give away half of their profits, from 32 to 52 million LTL. CEO of the Port Authority Mr. Gentvilas said that his organization will invest only to the most important and cost-effective facilities. Low return and city projects will not be supported and developed. In order to implement new projects, the Port Authority will allocate 20 million LTL. According to the needs of port companies, the sum should be about half a billion. All of these needs have returns. This means that a number of social urban projects will have to stand in queue. In some cases, the city of Klaipeda feels cheated as is with a dock for small boats.

“We gave a public land for the port to install a ground for polluted soil. We will not receive any benefits from that land. The Port Authority does not intend to start building a dock for small boats. We were tricked,” – claimed Deputy Mayor of Klaipeda Arturas Sulcas.

The Municipality is preparing to evaluate all the promises made by the Port Authority. One of such promises is the construction of pedestrian bridge over the railway to Melnrage. In the address made by the Marine Culture Coordinating Board to the country’s government, there is an expressed wish to keep a balance between profitable and needed social objects. This could be a compensation for Klaipeda as a city for the decreasing levels of living conditions and dangerous installations, such as liquefied natural gas terminal.

People are running away from the port

“The relationship between a port and a city is random. Sometimes one side uses it and sometimes another. There is no clear pattern. The relationship between Klaipeda and its port are made even more difficult because they are regulated by Vilnius,” – noticed Mr. Sulcas.

Why the city is grumpy about the port and the government? It is so because the port has taken away a substantial part of the city. For this land, the port companies are paying rent for the Port Authority. In other cities, such companies are paying their rent for local municipalities. The Port Authority has submitted data, stating that since 1998, it has managed to invest into local infrastructure 98 million LTL. This is the money allocated to repair roads leading to the port, so that trucks could have a better access. It is also thought that such a heavy transport damages the city streets the most.

Klaipeda Municipality has yet another data. If the Municipality received land lease fees, it could acquire additional 17 million LTL. The Port Authority has received 20.8 million LTL from land rent. It is estimated that if the Municipality kept the land to itself and rented it, its budget could have been enriched by 240 million LTL, counting from 1998.

“The Government should compensate the sums of money which are lost because of the port. Now it is explained rather too simple that the port is making profit, people are making money and the city has to thrive just on that. It does not work that way. The port is thriving, but the city is getting worse. The port is increasingly becoming inconvenient because of its odors, noise and lack of security. At the same time, the situation in the city is becoming worse because of its shrinking budget. Its streets and yards are deteriorating and social infrastructure is also becoming worse,” – said Mr. Sulcas.

Statistics have revealed interesting trends of the sole Lithuanian port city. Since 2006, the city has lost 7300 of its inhabitants. At the same time, the neighboring areas increased their number of inhabitants by the same 7300.  The conclusion is that people are coming only to work in Klaipeda and move away from the city, its noise, pollution and possible dangers. Municipal budget is formed from its inhabitants’ income taxes. Klaipeda loses its inhabitants’ tax money because of the port’s pollution. Moreover, Lithuanian Seimas and the Government are reducing the share for municipalities.

“When the city’s community understands how the budget is formed, their dissatisfaction with the Government will increase. Now, the local inhabitants are discontent with their local authorities, claiming that the city is getting poorer and we are doing nothing to prevent it,” – noted Mr. Sulcas.