SLOVENIA | Slovenija

[Ljubljana City]

SLOVENIAN PROJECTS, ECONOMY AND OTHER NEWS I







The Anthem - Zdravljica

Some general information:

Area: 20,273 km2
Population: 2,004,394 (31.3.2006), 98.9 inh. per km2
Capital city: Ljubljana
Language: Slovene; also Italian and Hungarian in nationally mixed areas
Currency: Slovenian tolar (SIT) [EUR from 2007]
GDP per capita: $23,250 (2006 est.)
GDP growth rate in 2005: 4.0 % (1/2 2006: 5.0 %)
HDI 2003: 0.904


Independence: 25.06.1991
Member of EU: 01.05.2004
Member of NATO: 29.03.2004

President of the Republic: Dr. Janez Drnovšek
Prime Minister: Janez Janša
Government: Prime Minister, 15 Ministers, 1 Minister without Portfolio
National Assembly: 90 deputies (88 elected representatives of the parliamentary parties and one representative each from the Italian and Hungarian national communities).
National Council: 40 elected representatives of employers, employees, farmers, tradesmen and the self-employed, as well as from the non-economic sector and local interest groups.
Conventional long/short form: Republic of Slovenia, Slovenia
Local long/short form: Republika Slovenija, Slovenija

[Ljubljana City]

OK, this was some general stuff about Slovenia. Now about this thread... As it is already said in the title, this thread will be about Slovenian projects of different kind, Slovenian economy and other important or just interesting news. As there are not as many Slovenes on this forum (my recent counting says only 4), please understand that this thread can't be filled with news every day (as the one of Croatia for example :P ). We will try our best Questions are also welcome.

Best wishes from the sunny side of the Alps!

[Ljubljana City]

Ljubljana Had 50% More Tourists in 2005 than Three Years Ago


The number of tourists visiting Ljubljana last year was 313,493, which is an increase of 50% over the last three years. The number of overnight stays was 565,649 an increase of 38% over the same period.

"No European capital can boast such results," said Mayor of Ljubljana Danica Simsic at a press conference in the capital on Tuesday.
Simsic added that Ljubljana was becoming a prestigious tourist destination. This is because Ljubljana is a tidy, charming and welcoming city that tourist numbers are on the rise, she stressed.
She said that the amount of cultural and other events on offer to tourists in Ljubljana had risen over the past three years and that new low-cost carrier connections had also helped the rise in tourist numbers.
Over 1,550 groups of tourists went on a guided tour of the city last year, up 20% on the year before. This means 47,429 tourists saw the capital in this way. The guided tour is available in a total of 17 different foreign languages, according to the mayor.
"Ljubljana has taken pains over its image for over a decade now," explained Simsic. The city's budget allocated over SIT 4bn (EUR 20m) for financing the renovation of the facades of 200 prominent buildings in Ljubljana.
Tourists spending on average less than two days in Ljubljana spent an average of EUR 128 per day. The total tourist expenditure in Ljubljana last year amounted to SIT 16bn (EUR 70m), Simsic said.
Although the city budget gained hardly anything from this, the city annually invested SIT 28m (EUR 120,000) for the development of tourism.
The director of the Ljubljana Institute for Tourism Barbara Vajda said: "We want to make Ljubljana a city of art and culture as well as business and a city for discovering Slovenia".

[Ljubljana City]

New buses from TVM for Neoplan


Tovarna vozil Maribor d.o.o. (TVM) has signed a contract for developing and constructing new midibuses for German company Neoplan. Neoplan has never made midibuses before and this would be it's first breach on this market (midibuses are buses with max. of 36 seats).
This contract will bring TVM 10 million € of annual income in first years. TVM constructed 60 airport buses for Neoplan last year which was 50 % of all world's market in this segment.
First prototypes will be presented in last months of this year and start of production in January 2007. 150 midibuses are expected to be delivered for Neoplan in 2007. TVM will be the only producer of midibuses in Europe.
Maribor's vehicle factory is also known for it's military programme, especially servicing different vehicles and constructions of undercarriage.


50% of world's airport buses were produced in Maribor

[edolen1]

To quote mic of orion: Cool stuff!

[OettingerCroat]

cool thread!!! can you guys give me the links to slovenian news pages? i'd be very interested! thx! it is sorta boring in this part of the forum with just a croatia thread, so slovenian presence is very welcome

lets drink to a successful thread!!!

[Ljubljana City]

Thx

Well that depends what interests you... Some:

RTV SLOVENIJA
24ur.com
SIOL
DELO
DNEVNIK
FINANCE
VEČER

And there are many more... RTVSLO, SIOL, DELO and FINANCE are regularly checked by me. Delo and RTVSLO are in my RSS too.

[Kommandant Mark]

Something I never knew before...

"50% of world's airport buses were produced in Maribor"

Any more info on the midi-buses that TVM builds?

[Ljubljana City]

Not much... There are even no actual prototypes, just studies and plans

[edolen1]

KM: That info is only for last year. In terms of all airport buses in the world, I seriously doubt even 10% were built in Maribor.

[SinCity]

Thanks heaps Ljubljana City. As you can see a few of us already really appreciate this thread.

Post any info that you have and I'm sure some of us can add material from time to time to help.

Its good to finally see some news on the developments happening in Slovenia.

Pozdrav

[edolen1]

New terminal at Brnik
from Finance

Aerodrom Ljubljana, d.d., the operator of Brnik Airport, the biggest airport in Slovenia, will finish the upgrade and renovation of Terminal 1 by mid-2007, in time for Slovenia's implementation of the Schengen system. A new terminal will also be completed by 2010.

The first phase, the upgrade of Terminal 1 will cost around €10 million. The second phase, the construction of Terminal 2 will cost €40 million. The terminal will be completed by 2010. That's also when the land for a new business-logistics centre will be ready for construction.


A render of the new terminal

http://www.finance-on.net/?MOD=show&id=148709

-------------------

Here's also what the website of Aerodrom Ljubljana says about the new terminal:

The new passenger terminal
One result of growing air traffic at Ljubljana Airport and Slovenia's entry into the European Union, which requires the separation of traffic into Schengen and non-Schengen (domestic and foreign), is the planned construction of a new airport terminal.

The current terminal will be renovated and linked to the new terminal by a connecting walkway that will include seven boarding bridges. The capacity of the new terminal will be 850 departing passengers per hour and 850 arriving passengers per hour. An IATA level C standard of services is envisaged to ensure the necessary quality for passenger arrivals and departures. The planning took into account both international and domestic regulations and standards for such facilities and equipment.

The new terminal will be expanded to 32,000 square meters, where 40 check-in counters will be set up, including some automatic ones. The complete separation of Schengen and non-Schengen traffic will be ensured, as well as the separation of arriving and departing passengers. Luggage will be thoroughly inspected and the installation of three luggage carousels is planned for luggage pick-up. There will be room in the terminal for airlines, travel agencies, restaurants and shops, and there are also plans for business lounges and additional services for passengers.



And a video of how Brnik will look like after all the currently planned investments:

http://www.lju-airport.si/eng/ASPDatoteka.asp?ID=159

-------------------

And some more renders of the new terminal, scanned from Aerodrom Ljubljana's company magazine:





-------------------

NOTE: None of the renders of the new terminal are final, that's why they slightly differ between each other. The final look of the terminal hasn't been determined yet.

[Kommandant Mark]

Looks not much different than the new terminal already being built at Podgorica Airport...still, its an improvement over current Ljubljana airport

I'd like to know if there has been any news of a tram or light-rail system being built for Ljubljana?

[Ljubljana City]

Great news, edolen

@KM: Not much... Although some of the city officials said they are seriously planning the implementation and preparing for further stages. Many studies have been made and it looks like the municipality wants it, but the government has to give resources for it in it's transport programme. The city is already considering the future traces in new plans for city development, but without the government and a more capable mayor (I hope we get a better one in November), there will be nothing. But we can say that first steps have been made.

[edolen1]

Well, until the local elections in autumn, nothing will be done, or almost nothing, except for promises.

[bambam]

Grad kao Ljubljana je u mojim ocima zasluzio puno ljepsi aerodrom a ne ovo ruglo. No dobro, nemora se svakome svidjeti.

[Ljubljana City]

Few more information about TVM which I read in one of the magazines. TVM is continuing to produce those airport buses and covering a big portion of world's market. They also made 40 buses of their own brand Marbus last year and a big portion of parts for 800 buses which were exported to Iran where they were assembled.

[OettingerCroat]

yo ljubljana city and edolen, are you guys good at croatian? just curious, bc bambam's post was in croatian in a slovenian forum.

[mic of Orion]

great stuff guys, looking forward to all projects on this thread, I'll try to contribute as much as I can, but for now I'm all eager to read about new projects in Slovenia..

[Kommandant Mark]

Originally Posted by OettingerCroat

yo ljubljana city and edolen, are you guys good at croatian? just curious, bc bambam's post was in croatian in a slovenian forum.

I don't know about Croatian, but when I was in Slovenia for 10 days last summer, I didn't have to use a single word of Slovene. Everyone understood & spoke Serbian, to a varying degree. I was suprised some kids were so fluent, until I saw the latest Ceca CD's being sold at the Ormoz post office

Thanks for the quick answer, LjubljanaCity!
Im sure Ljubljana can take it its time in considering the future plans for a better transit...its bus system and modern fleet of buses are quite adequate for the time being, from what I saw.

I think for the next 5 years, up to ~2010, the most important Ljubljana priority should be a new football stadium