Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
5. Regional organization in Slovakia
The administrative region as a development unit 19th century the centre for iron production became the Gemer area, this was the era of the Salgótarján-Rimamurány Iron Works. As a later consequence, arms factories were built in the area after World War II, such as one not far from Detva, which went bankrupt after 1989. At present brown coal is mined in the vicinity of Veľký Krtíš, magnesium at Jelšava and Lubeník and steatite at Hnúšťa. Industry is highly developed first of all in the Banská Bystrica and Žiar nad Hronom districts. There are both industrial and agricultural factories in the Banská Štiavnica, Detva, Lučenec, Revúca and Žarnovica districts, whereas the Veľký Krtíš, Poltár, Krupina and Rimavská Sobota districts are hardly industrialized; they are underdeveloped and agricultural areas. The economic development of the region is made more difficult by bad traffic infrastructure. There are three large industrial plants in the region. There are two aluminum works in Žiar nad Hronom in Norwegian ownership; there is an iron works in Podbrezová, which was founded in the 19th century by the Hungarian state to produce railway products. In 2002 it was taken over by the Czech ŽDAS company, and since then metal pipes have been produced there for auto manufacturing. In Harmanec, not far from Banská Bystrica, there is a paper mill, in Zvolen, Banská Bystrica and Žarnovica there are timber industrial plants and in Lučenec and Krupina there are furniture factories. In Zvolen railway carriages are repaired in the vehicle factory. Glass-making has a centuriesold tradition, and in Nová Baňa and Poltár there are glass works. Prešov is the centre of the poorest region of the country. In the Middle Ages this small town was famous for its salt mines and the trade route towards Poland. The town gained importance when Košice belonged to Hungary again from 1938 to 1945, and at that time several important institutions were moved to Prešov. It became the third largest city of the country in the period of communist industrialization. It was in these years that the machine, electrical and textile industrial factories were established. This tradition is continued in the bearing factory ZVL Auto, which was restored by its Italian investor. The only place in Slovakia where waterproof textiles are produced is the textile factory bought out by a German investor (Gemor Fashion Prešov). In Solivar, which belongs to Prešov today, a salt mine (Solivary) has been working since the Middle Ages. Due to the extended wooded areas, important timber processing plants were settled in the city (Kronospan Austria). Around Prešov there are twice as many people working in agriculture as the national average. This area has already been discovered for the pur133
