Lohja Today

Traffic Connections

Lohja is situated by a motorway from Helsinki as well as the road number 1 to Turku. The road number 25 and Hanko-Hyvinkää railway go through Lohja too. This has made  Lohja region an excellent place for industry and people. It takes less than an hour to drive 60 km from Lohja to Helsinki-Vantaa international airport. Hanko and Inkoo in the neighbourhood are important port towns by the Gulf of Finland. The railway between Hanko and Hyvinkää has also fastened the growth of the parish.

Main road 25.

Helsinki - Turku motorway E18, which will be completed in the future, will be an internationally important traffic route connecting Stockholm with St Petersburg. The big building project has been divided into twelve parts,  one of which  runs along the areas of Lohja. The timetable of the project varies, but the road will probably  be completed till the year 2010. One of the aims of the planning work is to bring out the Finnish scenery, architecture and culture. This project has caused a lot of public discussion and complaints for the officials. People who live close to the planned route of the road are worried of losing their lands. Motorway could cause a lot of noise too.

Population and Housing

Lohja is the most important growth centre in western Uusimaa. The Lohja sub-region, with its nearly 75 000 inhabitants, comprises Lohja itself and five neighbouring municipalities. Nearly half of the regions population lives in Lohja town. Finnish is the first language for 94% of the population. Swedish for 4.5% and other languages for 1.5%.

Changes in the employment situation and the amount of the population in the capital area affect the economic development of Lohja. Migration in the area is mainly between the capital town area and other parts of the region.

Lohja environment is ideal for high quality town housing. One-family housing can still be built near the town centre. Housing is relatively spacious with about 60% of households living in detached or one-family houses. Nearly 70% of the population own their homes. In the summer the population increases greatly by the thousands of holiday-makers, who come to the area to spend time at their summer cottages. In the year 1999 the number of the summer cottages was 2229.

Most of the housing in Lohja is located in a narrow 20 kilometres long band-like form on the eastern shore of the lake. (see The Map of Lohja)  The biggest population concentration is the town centre where most shops, public services, schools etc. are located. In the centre (together with Ojamo) there are about 15 000 inhabitants. Southern Lohja, Virkkala, (where our school is located) is the second largest concentration with its 7000 inhabitants. Other main housing areas are Routio (3000 inhabitants) and northern Lohja: Perttilä and Asema, (8000 inhabitants).

Lohja Centre.

Industry

Lohja is a growing industrial centre. Today Lohja is known especially for its electronics and wood-processing industries. Industry employs 32% of the workforce and the service sector 47%. The paper and timber industries have led the way in the manufacturing sector in adopting ecologically sustainable production and careful planning of waste management as fundamental principle of their operations.

The largest manufacturers are Metsä-Serla Kirkniemi paper mills, Finnforest in wood processing and Elcoteq Network in electronics. Mining and construction materials are still one of the major industries with over hundred years history in the region. Nordkalk Oy continues mining and lime processing in Tytyri.

Photograph © Elcoteq Network Corporation
High tech electronics manufacturing in Elcoteq factory.

Shops and Services

Despite the attractions of the capital area Lohja has maintained its independent position as a commercial centre of western Uusimaa. This position has been though weakening in the past few years. All the big trade chains are planning to build very large “Hyper-Markets” to get more customers to Lohja. The environmentally concerned people are not happy because of these plans. These Hyper Markets would increase car traffic significantly and therefore pollution would increase too. New roads would have to be built too.   

Stalls in Lohja market square continue the tradition of fairs dating back to the middle ages.

There are many important public health care, educational and state administrative services in Lohja. Lohja has a hospital providing specialist hospital treatments as well as the biggest vocational education establishments in the region.