| Pargas Pargas – Parainen |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| — Town — | |||
| Pargas stad Paraisten kaupunki |
|||
| The city centre of Pargas | |||
|
|||
| Location of Pargas in Finland | |||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Finland | ||
| Region | Finland Proper | ||
| Sub-region | Åboland–Turunmaa sub-region | ||
| Charter | 2009 | ||
| Seat | Pargas | ||
| Government | |||
| • Town manager | Folke Öhman | ||
| Area(2011-01-01)[1] | |||
| • Total | 5,548.25 km2 (2,142.2 sq mi) | ||
| • Land | 881.79 km2 (340.5 sq mi) | ||
| • Water | 4,666.46 km2 (1,801.7 sq mi) | ||
| Area rank | 11th largest in Finland | ||
| Population (2011-01-31)[2] | |||
| • Total | 15,484 | ||
| • Rank | 76th largest in Finland | ||
| • Density | 17.56/km2 (45.5/sq mi) | ||
| Population by native language[3] | |||
| • Swedish | 57.6% (official) | ||
| • Finnish | 41.2% (official) | ||
| • Others | 1.2% | ||
| Population by age[4] | |||
| • 0 to 14 | 17.2% | ||
| • 15 to 64 | 63.3% | ||
| • 65 or older | 19.5% | ||
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) | ||
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) | ||
| Municipal tax rate[5] | 19.25% | ||
| Website | www.pargas.fi | ||
Pargas (Finnish: Parainen; Väståboland (Finnish: Länsi-Turunmaa) in 2009–2011) is a municipality of Finland, in the Archipelago Sea. The big limestone mine in Pargas is the base of the main industry, while there is still significant rural areas. Except the central parts of Pargas the municipality is mostly rural.
Pargas is located in Åboland in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Finland Proper region. It was created as Väståboland on January 1, 2009 in Finland Proper, when the municipalities of Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö were united into a single municipality.
The municipality has a population of 15,484 (31 January 2011)[2] and covers an area of 5,548.25 square kilometres (2,142.19 sq mi) of which 4,666.46 km2 (1,801.73 sq mi) is water.[1] The population density is 17.56 inhabitants per square kilometre (45.5 /sq mi).
The town is bilingual with a majority (57.6%) speaking Swedish as their native language.[3]
Contents |
Pargas has a large limestone industry, with the industry and Nordkalk as an important local employer, agriculture employs many in the rural regions of the municipality. The municipality suffering from high debt[6]
On 1 January 2009, Pargas, Nagu, Korpo, Houtskär and Iniö merged to Väståboland municipality.
Shortly after the merge people started debating if the "Väståboland" name was the right name for the merged municipality, those arguing against the Väståboland name, proposed Pargas as a 'new' name. The former municipalities could not agree on the name, so the state had to step in and decided the name to be Väståboland/Länsi-Turunmaa.[7] The debates became heated and a referendum was arranged to decide what name the municipality should have in May 2011.[8] The result of the referendum showed that 57,7% of the voters supported "Pargas" and 40.1% of voters supported "Väståboland". Though the overall majority supported changing the name, there was an overwhelming support for the name "Väståboland" in 4 out of 5 of the former municipalities. In Iniö only 1 voter out of 173 total voted for "Pargas", while in Pargas where the a strong majority voted for "Pargas".[9]
The municipality council (Swedish: "Fullmäktige") decided on 14 June 2011 in favour of the majority population and decided to rename the municipality "Pargas" on 1 January 2012.[10] Though there has been legal complications and the council decision to rename will be taken to court, the court might override the council decision.[11] The Council considered to take this issue up again for debate and vote.[12] The council made a re-vote on 6 September 2011 with 25 votes for "Pargas", 17 for "Väståboland" and 1 blank vote.[13]
This dispute has consumed much resources that could have been used elsewhere,
There is debate about a possible merge with Kimitoön.[14]
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Pargas Pargas] at Wikimedia Commons
|
||||||||||||||