After a Lithuanian tech company opened a factory in Molėtai, the town has been going through a significant transformation. With workers moving in from across the country and beyond, Molėtai is constructing new apartment blocks, something it has not seen in three decades.
Agnė, who lived in Ireland for ten years with her family, has recently returned to Lithuania. She lives in Švenčionėliai, a town in eastern Lithuania, but alongside her husband is commuting to work about 40 kilometres to Molėtai. The town of under 6,000 people is home to a new Teltonika Technology Centre.
The family is considering moving closer to work, although finding a place to live is a challenge.
“Renting in Molėtai is difficult, buying a house is not so easy anymore either,” says Agnė Perminienė. “I don’t know if Teltonika has influenced that or if it is just that Molėtai has become a very attractive place. We are waiting for those big constructions to begin, I can see that new apartment blocks are rising up.”
Teltonika is a Lithuanian high-tech group specialising in internet, transport management solutions and network equipment. Last year, it announced a deal with Taiwan to invest in semiconductor production.
The head of the Teltonika centre, Paulius Rutkauskas, also plans to move to Molėtai with his family. He says the town, known for its picturesque natural surroundings and a multitude of lakes, is going through a renaissance of sorts. More and more people are moving here.
Teltonika’s factory is also expanding. It employs 150 people and is looking to expand to 500 in the coming years. Expatriates are invited to return and are immediately offered a job.
“We talk to entire families. If the whole family is living abroad, our goal is not a short-term solution but something long-term. If the wife is employed here but the husband is going to stay working abroad, then we interview the spouse as well, we look at possibilities to employ the whole family, and we have some examples where both husband and wife are working for us here in Teltonika, growing, having careers,” says Rutkauskas.
Teltonika’s entry into Molėtai in late 2022 was a big event for the town, something it may have not been entirely prepared for. The town has run out of housing. No apartment blocks have been built in Molėtai for more than three decades. Now, several are rising up, alongside new blocks of single-family houses.
The municipality is also chipping in with commitments to provide infrastructure for the new residential areas.
“We have installed all the communications, water supply, sewage, street lighting, we have built streets, footpaths and now we have enough plots to offer to those who want to build individual houses,” says Molėtai District Mayor Saulius Jauneika.
The apartment blocks are being built by Namų Avilys. The developer has until now only invested in Vilnius, says its co-owner Stanislovas Arlinskas.
“The main factor, of course, the arrival of Teltonika. Then we did some analysis of the real estate market in Molėtai and there was a big shortage of residential space, and the third thing is that it is not far from Vilnius, and we saw the potential,” he says.
The town is an easy one-hour-drive from the capital city and has been popular with people from other places seeking holiday homes.
In addition to new blocks of private homes and apartment buildings, Molėtai has recently constructed a new swimming pool. A hotel is under construction, which will be the town’s first.
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