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The Molėtai district attracts with its lakes and tourist centers near them. Rural tourism houses do not have many places in the summer, visitors like Dubingiai with its magnificent history, forests and educational trails in them.
And Molėtai himself has renewed public spaces and is trying to relive his history with pleasant and more painful memories, for example, he marked the houses of pre-war Jews with drawings about the life of this nation. It is true that Jews today only visit Molėtai as guests: most of the locals were killed during World War II.
“Vilnius approaches Molėtai”
Relaxing in Molėtai in the summer is fun, but are there a growing number of people who want to live here permanently? According to Saulius Jauneika, the mayor of the district, there is no massive flow when it is necessary to form plots for those who intend to settle here.
“But everything is fine. Vilnius is approaching Molėtai. I think in the summer what 50 percent. Vilnius residents and residents are here, they live in Molėtai district. Of the total population in the summer, 3-4 months, and now and more, others span from early spring to fall, “said the mayor.
It is almost impossible to buy an apartment in Molėtai right now, the demand exceeds the supply. The municipality has been trying to buy 20 apartments for the fourth consecutive year, but without success, there simply are no apartments. However, a new apartment building is expected to start next year.
Ernesta Čičiurkaitė / 15min photo / Mayor of the Molėtai district Saulius Jauneika
“More young people stay to live in Molėtai, they come back after school,” says Paulius Valentinavičius, adviser to the mayor of Molėtai. He is from Molėtai himself and returns to his hometown with his family in Vilnius after 12 years.
Having held several businesses in Vilnius and Molėtai, Paulius is also in charge of attracting investments in the municipality.
“The biggest advantage for young families here is the connection to schools and kindergartens: if they have more than one child and attend different schools, it is half a day in Vilnius to take the children out. Here 10 to 15 minutes: children get along and travel with their own work.
And the culture, the emotion, the community of the Molėtai people are very different, they know each other, they advise, they help, a completely different life. The same for children, less all kinds of temptations. If a child starts to stray, you can control it very quickly, making it safer, “said the mayor’s adviser on the advantages of a small town.
Spend half a day in Vilnius while taking the children out. Here 10 to 15 minutes: the children get along and travel with their own work.
According to Paulius, there are several families who move to the Molėtai and Molėtai district and continue to work in Vilnius. Here, children always have places in kindergartens, schools, and medical services are also of a high quality.
It also lacks concerts, theater and other cultural activities here: the hall of the Molėtai House of Culture has been recently renovated, so it invites various groups and there is no problem going to Vilnius.
For even more returnees, according to Paul, people need the determination to build their own businesses and carry out other activities. After all, it is not difficult to find an unskilled auxiliary job in Norway or elsewhere, working after 12-14 hours and earning money, but does everyone like and enjoy this life?
“Young people lack the understanding that it is possible to live perfectly with us”, Father Valentinavičius is convinced.
Ernesta Čičiurkaitė / 15min photo / Advisor to the mayor of the Molėtai district Paulius Valentinavičius
It has a “Norwegian neighborhood”
According to the mayor, Molėtai residents notice such a trend that young families move, buy houses, even though they go to Vilnius to work. According to municipal employees, both locations prefer to stay in their home country and return after working abroad.
“We joke that we have a ‘Norwegian neighborhood’.” No one has given that name anywhere, but it is. It turns out that there are purchase plots, those returning from abroad have established houses. People are just creating, coming back.
I’m glad they come back after trying a different way of life, a different order, trying to create a life for themselves, and we, as a municipality, as a government, have to create conditions for them: kindergartens, schools, some activities cultural, everything else.
But people who have lived here all the time are often used to the government having to take care of everything and find a job. And returnees have a different attitude and, as I understand it, it is good, according to my own philosophy, that if you don’t show initiative, you just expect something, nothing can go wrong, “said S. Jauneika.
Ernesta Čičiurkaitė / 15min photo / Emigrants build houses in the so-called Molėtai “Norwegian Quarter”
According to him, the municipality tries to help small businesses, has a small fund, supports young families and provides benefits of up to 10,000. If you buy your first house in Molėtai and settle down to live here, newborns also receive baskets and, from this year, newcomers.
Those who have returned from abroad, according to the mayor, want quality services: “We set ourselves the objective that these people receive quality services. Let’s say, the example of the Giedraičiai kindergarten: before the elections there was a lot of pressure, which the candidate will offer to do in that kindergarten. Parents do not want something special, but they want to ensure educational conditions because they have already seen quality. The municipality has nothing to discuss and this year we will fix the kindergarten. “
We joke that we have a ‘Norwegian neighborhood’. No one has given the quarter that name, but it is.
Several kindergartens, located in rural areas of the district, are attended by several children. According to the mayor, the areas where the kindergarten is being recovered, at least the elementary school, the library, parents are starting to build houses, buy them, and young families are being formed.
“Especially for small preschool groups, primary education is needed. In towns, settlements. We are reorganizing, reorganizing the educational system, but leaving the department of primary education.
We have the attitude that a six-year-old boy should not get up at six in the morning and drive 20 km to school because the child is already tired. Vilnius residents can tell me they raise their children at six o’clock and take them to school, to kindergarten for an hour through traffic jams, but we have to do better than in Vilnius for people come live with us.
Because if it’s the same in Vilnius as in Molėtai, then what happens to those Molėtai? “- said S. Jauneika.
Asked how many people who live in Molėtai in the summer have declared their place of residence in this area, the mayor is not hiding; This is another objective that has not yet been achieved.
However, there are changes: Žydrūnas Savickas has become a full-fledged resident of the Mol .tai district. And for other summer visitors, S. Jauneika remembers that those who have not declared their place of residence are at the end of the line when they come to the municipality to request road repairs or the like.
Tire factories did not accept
Molėtai, like any Lithuanian municipality, is waiting for investments, but does not want to open large factories. According to the mayor, the focus is on environmentally friendly businesses, so sources of pollution are avoided.
As an example, he submitted a proposal to build a tire burning plant, which was rejected without consideration, and was submitted just a few weeks after the Alytus fire.
Photo by Ernesta Čičiurkaitė / 15min / Molėtai City
“The situation in Molėtai may have been appreciated, because we have nature, about a third of the territory is sparsely populated with lakes and forests.” Here we have trouble providing high-quality social services, because the rarer people are, the higher the costs. How do you want to do it, but you have to spend a lot of budget on it: education, culture, other things, to be on the same level or even better than in the city, “said the mayor.
Investors are happy, they are trying, for example, to present the terms of the project faster than required by law. However, there have been some curiosities with this, since the representatives of the municipality, who presented the conditions in just a few days, received the interest of the police, that perhaps someone was interested in the project as soon as possible.
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