Vitalijus Mitrofanovas told that around 400 new jobs would be created in total, including some 150 at the initial stage.
"They are planning initial investment in a particle board factory, thus creating around 150 jobs. Their total planned investment on this plot of land (on the Akmene free economic area) would amount to some 180 million euros by 2022. The board factory should start operating in the first quarter of 2020," he said.
The mayor said that another 250 new jobs would be created at VMG's new furniture production facility to be built at a later stage.
Sigitas Paulauskas, chairman of the management board at VMG, confirmed to that the group intended to invest in the district of Akmene, but he did not elaborate on these plans.
VMG, which sells the bulk of its products to Sweden's Ikea, posted 16.403 million euros in consolidated net profits for 2016, up 7.3% from 15.289 million euros in 2015, as consolidated revenue increased by 6.1% to 144.894 million euros.
