ZASAVSKA - Economy
Mining and industry dominate the economy
Zasavska is the most industrialised region in Slovenia with the largest share of gross value added (53.7%) generated by the secondary sector and the smallest share coming from the services sector (44.3%). The region's dependency on mining and industry is also reflected in its low per capita GDP.
The region's economy is based on brown coal. Currently used primarily in the Trbovlje thermal power plant (125 MW), brown coal was also a decisive factor in directing the course of the Vienna-Trieste railway through barely passable mountains in the middle of the 19th century. Energy intensive industries, parts of which are still in operation (glassworks, the production of inorganic chemicals in Hrastnik, and the cement factory in Trbovlje), were developed due to the presence of coal in the second half of the 19th century. The production of machinery for use in the coal mines was started in Trbovlje after World War II. Among industrial branches that are not directly related to coal mining, the production of electrical insulation material in Izlake, the furniture industry and a lime factory in Zagorje ob Savi are important.
Due to the region's small population and the proximity of other, larger regional centres, the services sector is relatively weak. Main services, including a regional hospital and a high school centre, are largely concentrated in Trbovlje, while other service activities are of a local character, with the exception of a small health resort in Medijske toplice at the source of a thermal spring.
With only the Trbovlje mine due to operate for two more decades, the gradual shutdown of the coal-mines brings numerous problems and uncertainty to Zasavska, which now must face these new challenges. The mines and the thermal power plant are owned by the state, therefore a large part of the shutdown costs and related economic restructuring will be covered by the national budget. Since this process will result in a considerable surplus of skilled labour and lead to state-run incentives for new investment, Zasavska will offer favourable conditions for domestic and foreign investors in the future, especially in industry and small businesses.
The Southern Railway diverted for brown coal
Despite its position in central Slovenia, main traffic routes would have bypassed the mountainous Zasavska region were it not for the region's brown coal deposits. This was the only reason why the Southern Railway between Vienna and Trieste was constructed through the picturesque but almost impassable Sava gorge. Zasavska's three main towns are situated only a few kilometers away from the Sava valley, and they depend on the railway more than other Slovenian towns.
The region's most important road connection is the Ljubljana-Litija-Zidani Most road running through the Sava valley. When the Ljubljana-Celje motorway is constructed (due by the end of 2004), the regional road running through Hrastnik-Trbovlje-Zagorje ob Savi-Trojane will become the main connection between Zasavska and the Slovenian motorway network.
Local paved or tarmacked roads connect all villages and isolated farmsteads in the mountains with towns in the valleys. Most of the residents commute daily to work by car. The region has 18 000 passenger cars or 390 cars per 1 000 persons, which is, together with Pomurska, the lowest number in all of Slovenia.
Zasavska has no airports; the Ljubljana international airport is 75 km from Trbovlje. Plans were made to construct a navigable waterway through the Sava valley that would connect the Sava river basin with the Adriatic Sea, but these were finally abandoned in the 1990s.
|
|