Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
5. Regional organization in Slovakia
The administrative region as a development unit Turčianske Teplice, Tvrdošľn, Námestovo and Bytča are much more rural. The former Orava County, which used to be one of the poorest counties in Hungarian history, was divided and attached to three different presentday districts (Dolný Kubín, Tvrdošín and Námestovo), from where most people emigrated overseas, mainly to Canada and the United States. The main towns of the region can be accessed by important international roads. A motorway to Bratislava, which is intended to run across this region so as to solve the backward situation of this traditionally poor mountainous area, is also being built gradually. The motorway running in the Váh Valley from Bratislava will turn to Martin, Ružomberok and Liptovský Mikuláš at Žilina. Construction work is being carried out by sections. The Žilina region in the Váh Valley became an industrial area between the two World Wars with arms-manufacturing machine industry as its main activity. The arms factories were built in the vicinities of Martin and Liptovský Mikuláš sheltered by the mountains. Lying close to the Czech Republic is a benefit for these towns. After 1989 the production of tanks, armoured vehicles and artillery tools went bankrupt, but there were a high number of well-trained workers skilled in the machine industry. This attracted investors, and that was why the Korean Kia auto manufacturer chose Teplička nad Váhom near Žilina for its plant. Including the suppliers that Kia attracted, there are about 10,000 people employed there. Apart from the chemical industrial plants, textile and boot and shoe factories have also been built in Liptovský Mikuláš and Martin. There is an electrotechnical plant in Liptovský Hrádok. In Istebné iron alloys are produced. The most important industrial establishment of the region is Stredoslovenská energetika - SSE, a power supplier, which employs about 2,000 people, and 49% of which is in French ownership. Due to the high proportion of wooded areas, a high capacity paper mill was built in Ružomberok in 2001. The leading electrotechnical plant, the Dutch firm LG Philips Displays, can be found in Námestovo. The French company Alcatel is also present. It established a joint venture with the former Czechoslovak Tesla in Liptovský Hrádok in 1991, but by now it has completely taken over the company. The leading boot and shoe industrial factory in the region is the Danish Ecco Slovakia, where shoe uppers imported from Indonesia are fixed on soles. Their products are almost completely exported. Owing to the cheap Asian textile industrial products, the textile factory in Liptovský Mikuláš went bankrupt. However, as a result of the changes in the ownership structure, some of 131
