PODRAVSKA - Economy
Industry facing crisis
In the past, Podravska's economy was based both on industry and agriculture. In 2000, service activities generated near two thirds (60.0%) of the region's gross value added, followed by the secondary sector (35.7%), while agriculture and forestry contributed for 4.3%. Heavy industry, car manufacturing, machine-building and other industries, established in the socialist period after World War II, largely failed to survive the demanding transition to a modern, market-oriented economy. This is also the main reason why the region's per capita GDP is one of the lowest in Slovenia.
The most important agricultural areas are the plains along the Drava and surrounding hills. However, despite abundant land, small farms prevail, and about 33% of farms have more than 5 hectares of agricultural land. Agriculture is quite diverse, a number of different crops are grown and today there is a tendency towards poultry and pig production. Fodder crops (silage corn and other fodder crops) and grain corn are grown on most of the fields. Sugar beet is also grown on quite a big area (about 2600 ha). Fruit growing areas (mainly apples) can be found in the northern parts of Slovenske gorice and the Pohorje foothills, while the main wine growing areas are around Maribor, in Slovenske gorice to the north-east of Ptuj and in the eastern part of Haloze.
Maribor is the largest industrial town. Metal products are still manufactured here, as well as chemicals (detergents), textiles and wood-processing products. During World War II, a hydrated alumina and aluminium plant was constructed in Kidricevo, which was intended to use Hungarian bauxite and cheap electricity from the nearby hydroelectric power plants on the Drava river. Later, it was transformed into an aluminium plant which today is connected with a semi-manufactured aluminium goods plant in Slovenska Bistrica. Other industries include a paper factory in Sladki Vrh, the manufacturing of spectacles and sugar refining in Ormoz and the production of ferro-alloys, carbide and fertilizers in Ruše.
All types of service activities are well developed in Maribor but the region is rather weak in tourist and catering services which are mainly developed in Maribor, in the Pohorje massif (skiing centre) and in Ptuj (thermal health resort). Several specialised trade-fairs also take place in Maribor.
Following the difficult transition period at the start of the 1990s, Podravska's economy is now gradually beginning to improve, if somewhat slowly. An important advantage for the region is the presence of the University of Maribor, which covers the majority of the demands from the local economy for highly skilled graduates.
Important sub-alpine transport route
Podravska is situated on an important sub-alpine traffic route that connects Central Europe with the Mediterranean along the eastern edge of the Alps. The Southern Railway between Vienna and Trieste, constructed between 1841-1857, runs along this route, as well as the main E57 Wels-Graz-Maribor-Ljubljana road and the E59 Vienna-Graz-Maribor-Zagreb road. The Podravska section of the E57 road is almost entirely motorway, while the construction of a section of motorway from Maribor to the Croatian border via Ptuj is planned after 2004. At the moment, however, the region has only 58 km of motorway.
The most important major roads include the Pesnica-Lenart-Murska Sobota-Hungarian border road (the main transit road towards Hungary), the Pragersko-Ptuj-Ormoz-Varazdin (Croatia) road and the Maribor-Dravograd-Klagenfurt (Austria) road. There is also a dense network of local roads in the plains and in hilly areas, which are for the most part paved. All settlements are accessible by car, even in mountainous areas.
There are 135 500 private cars in Podravska or 423 cars per 1 000 persons which is slightly below the national average. Although passenger cars prevail in commuter traffic, Maribor and Ptuj each have dense networks of local buses connecting the two towns with nearby settlements.
With 130 km of railway track in the region, the Vienna-Trieste railway is the most important line. It is a double-track line, except between Maribor and the Austrian border, and is entirely electrified. From this main railway, two other lines branch off. These are the Pragersko-Cakovec (Croatia)-Nagykanizsa (Hungary) line, constructed in 1860, and the Maribor-Dravograd-Villach (Austria) line, constructed in 1864.
The Maribor airport with a 2 500 m long runway was constructed in 1976, but it has never developed into an airport with more than just a marginal role, carrying modest amounts of freight and charter passenger traffic. Furthermore, rivers in Podravska are not navigable.
|
|