The Trenčín Region will get €2.3 million from the General Treasury Administration for improving its social and economic situation. The government decided on the subsidy at its away-meeting in Handlová on October 9, where it also expressed support for the mining sector.
“This support was divided among more than 100 municipalities all over the region. The major portion of these sources will be channelled into the education infrastructure while another portion will go to health-care facilities and, certainly, various sports projects are there,” Prime Minister Robert Fico said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The allocated funds will also help three hospitals in the jurisdiction of the county. The Považská Bystrica Hospital is to get €150,000 for equipment for its emergency ward, the Bojnice Hospital is to receive €100,000 for medical
technology and the one in Myjava will use the resources to buy technology for its incinerator. Moreover, €166,000 should flow to Trenčín as the regional capital. Several municipalities will get funds to reconstruct their cultural
facilities, offices and local roads.
At its meeting in Handlová, the government also declared its support for the mining sector, with Fico once again supporting brown-coal mining by the local company Hornonitrianske Bane (Upper-Nitra Mines) and their efforts for an alternative program such as a fish farm and tomato growing. However, he slammed the Italian company Enel, the majority owner of Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) power utility that has also the thermal power plant Nováky in its portfolio. The power plant is the biggest client of the mine without which it would not survive.
“I will say words - for the first time – that might evoke a storm,” Fico said, according to the Sme daily. “I will not listen any longer to what the Italian owners of Slovenské Elektrárne are telling us because we have very negative experience with them from the completion of the third and fourth units of the Nuclear Power Plant Mochovce”.
Hornonitrianske Bane Prievidza (HBP) mining company is to venture into fish farming and greenhouse agriculture, with the project to yield 80-200 jobs, TASR reported. The fish farm/greenhouse complex will cover three operations: the farming of African catfish, their processing as well as the growing of berries in greenhouses, said project manager Stanislav Gurský. HBP expects the volume of fish produced in the farm to reach 1,000 tonnes per year. The berries to be grown in the greenhouses all year round will be used in yoghurts being produced by dairies in Slovakia.
(Source: SITA, Sme, TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
