Several year ago passenger railways, cargo railways and Slovakia’s administrator of railways were divided into three separate companies. Now it is proposed that they should be re-connected in a holding company, sme.sk wrote on its website on January 26.
Their merger was proposed by the Slovak Transport Ministry which claims that a joint parent company would help the railway companies to save money. However the ministry did not estimate how much savings this might bring and said a detailed analysis is being prepared.
The finance ministry was not able to name advantages of such a merger. It wants the transport ministry to re-write the document and transmit it again for comments and corrections. The spokesman of the transport ministry, Stanislav Jurikovič, said the negotiations with the finance ministry are underway.
The Slovak Antitrust Office has sharply criticised the transport ministry’s proposal, claiming that it would “lead to staff and material fusion of the railway companies, and thus any minimum independence between the administrator of the infrastructure and state freight haulers will be lost”. Sme.sk
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
