Mezei István: Urban development in Slovakia (Pécs-Somorja, 2010)
5. Regional organization in Slovakia
Regional organization in Slovakia the workers could be taken over by a factory controlled by Penta, a financial investment group. The prosperity of the construction industry is first of all due to the investments in the auto industry and road construction. Doprastav and Váhostav, the two largest plants, were founded in the communist era. Natural conditions make primarily grazing animal keeping and plant growing possible, but the natural environment is also excellent for tourism. A number of hot water springs and springs containing useful minerals and the health resorts based on them (Turčianske Teplice, Rajecké Teplice) add to the possibilities. There is also a bottling plant there. Due to its mining and processing industrial traditions, Banská Bystrica is still regarded as a metal industrial centre. The transportation of the town has not been developed yet. The motorway only runs as far as Nitra, and the nearby airport in Sliač (15 km) is only suitable for cargo transportation, with only one passenger flight a day to Prague. The intended development of the town was already started in the communist era, and was continued also after the country had become independent. At present, the most profitable sectors are tourism and the timber and the machine industries. The two large Slovakian companies with an outstanding number of employees, the Slovak Post (employing the thirdmost people nationwide) and the national forestry service (employing the thirteenth-largest number of people) are also based there. Slovak and foreign investors have come to the town and its vicinity, which was also encouraged by the establishment of a business park. Its famous companies include Doka Drevo, an Austrian firm, Smrečina Hofatex, a Slovak timber industrial company, Küster and Witzenmann Slovakia, which is a German machine industrial companies, the domestic I.K.M. Reality- Staving BB building company and SHP Harmanec, a paper mill, etc. The Banská Bystrica region is famous for its natural beauty. In its area there are three national parks: the Low Tatras, the Murán Plateau and a part of the national park called Slovak Paradise, which is actually the breakthrough of the river Hornád through the Gemer- Spis Erzgebirge. The rivers Hron [Garam], Rimava [Rima] and Ipeľ [Ipoly] rise in the Banská Bystrica region and this is where the river Slaná [Sajó] crosses the Hungarian border. The gold, silver, copper, mercury, lead and some other rare metals were mined, with different technologies, different intensity and varying success, until the 19th century. Kremnica was famous for its gold, Banská Štiavnica for its silver and Banská Bystrica for its copper. In the 132
