Regional development gets boost from Domasa project.

(From The Slovak Spectator)

Government officials are working to bring EU pre-accession funds to Slovakia's east DESPITE the increased availability of European Union funds for developing Slovakia's long-struggling east, the country continues to show major differences in investment and development among its eight regions.

The Bratislava area has enjoyed the lion's share of foreign investment throughout Slovakia's decade-long history, as well as the country's highest wages, lowest unemployment, and GDP-per-capita levels equal to the EU average. In contrast, the eastern Presov and Kosice regions continue to suffer unemployment levels of more than 25 per cent.

However, with EU approval in early October of a Sk200 million ($4.5 million) project aimed at developing the Ve3/4ka Domasa area east of Presov, along with four other projects in Slovakia's east, regional development has been given a solid boost.

The Domasa project is aimed at improving the infrastructure around the Ve3/4ka Domasa dam as well as attracting tourists to the dam's large artificial lake. It is being made possible by funding from the EU Phare programme for Economic and Social Cohesiveness (ECOSOC), and is supervised by Slovakia's Ministry of Construction and Regional Development. "We assume that the project's implementation could start sometime in the next year," said Julius Slovak, head of Slovakia's Agency for Regional Development Support under the Construction Ministry. However, securing the funds for the project was no easy task. Domasa organisers say the detailed project design required by European Commission (EC) funders took years to prepare and taxed local administrative capacities to the limit.

"The preparation was really demanding. Because of changing requirements we processed six alternative plans, starting in the spring of 2000," said Vladimir Bodnar, head of the regional development section at the Vranov nad Top3/4ou District Office in east Slovakia.

"The final version was submitted to the Construction Ministry in October 2000, where it was chosen as part of a group of 10 projects out of 118 proposals to be sent to Brussels," he added. Although 10 regional development projects were sent to the EC for evaluation, only five have reached the final financing stage, highlighting what development critics have long called Slovakia's failure to take advantage of funding opportunities.