Economic state indicators of Mačva and Kolubara Districts Geo-economic position The Kolubara and Mačva districts lie in Western Serbia, covering an area of 5,742 sq km, or 6.5% of the total area of the Republic of Serbia, with a population of 540.224 living in 446 settlements. The region has good road and railway connections (M21, M24 and M19, trunk roads, Beograd – Bar railway). The planned route of the Belgrade-South Adriatic road goes through three municipalities, which will incorporate the region into the international transport corridors: Corridor 10* and Corridor 7. The Sava River could potentially become an international waterway and via the Danubian water link connect the region directly to «the European blue roads», with the construction of the international port infrastructure in Šabac and the existing infrastructure of the free zone. Economic structure° ∗ 1. Enterprises There are 3.516 operating enterprises in 2006. Enterprises Number Agriculture 284 Mining 28 Industry 1033 Electric energy and gas 18 Construction 211 Trade 1274 Hotels and restaurants 41 Traffic 254 Financial Affairs 7 Real estate affairs 226 Communal activities 58 Other 82 *Source : Koridor 10 Info Pages http://www.pregled.com ° Source: Ministry of Finance, Republic of Serbia, 2006. ∗ http://regpr.komora.net/Default.aspx?tabid=55, Republic Development Bureau http://www.razvoj.sr.gov.yu/, Statistic Office of the Republic of Serbia http://www.statserb.sr.gov.yu/ 1 Enterprises by size: Small 95.7% Medium 3.7% Large 0.6% 2. Entrepreneurs There are 18.500 operating entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs by sector: Entrepreneurs Sectors Trade 38% Industry 17% Traffic 15% Hotels and Restaurants 10% Construction 8% Real estate 5% Agriculture 1% Other 6% Foreign trade° Total foreign trade turnover in 2006. is 614.1 million USD, export 258.4 million USD, import 355.7 million USD and deficit 97.3 million USD. Export Import Italy 36% Italy 31% Bosnia and 14% EU 15% Herzegovina Foreign trade partners Montenegro 10% Germany 13% Germany 9% France 5% Austria 5% Bosnia and 4% Herzegovina Other 26% Other 32% ° Source: Ministry of Economy and Regional Development, Republic of Serbia, 2006, http://www.merr.sr.gov.yu/, Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, http://pks.komora.net/, Statistic Office of the Republic of Serbia, http://www.statserb.sr.gov.yu/ 2 Natural potentials∗ The major natural potential of the region include: relatively large farm areas, covering almost 400,000 ha, of which 280,000 ha is farm land and 35,000 ha are orchards. About 35% of arable land is planted with corn with an annual yield of about 500,000 tons and wheat with the annual yield of 120,000 tons. The region has favorable conditions for the cultivation of all types of continental fruits: raspberries, plums, blackberries, strawberries, pears, apples. The annual output of plums is about 100,000 tons, and raspberries about 20,000 tons. The region is rich in wild fruits and medicinal herbs. The region has an established tradition in stock raising, in particular cattle breeding, with about 154,000 large heads of cattle, 470,000 pigs and 290,000 sheep, and a good presence of poultry breeding; it has superb natural potentials for fish breeding and bee breeding. Almost 130,000 inhabitants are engaged in agriculture. Moreover, 322 enterprises and over 200 agricultural cooperatives are engaged in agricultural production. Rich natural resources include: 150,000 ha of forest; coal-lignite deposits; metal ores: antimony, silver, zinc, copper, iron; nonmetals: quartz sand, clay, lime, fluorite, barite, marble; the potential of the Drina river and the presence of geothermal, thermal, mineral springs offer the possibility of different forms of utilization. The favorable topography of hilly terrains and mountains (the highest peak at 1.347 m on Povlen mountain), mild and moderate climate, a balanced distribution of rainfall, woody mountains rich in various game, rivers rich in fish, a large number of important cultural- historical monuments, good transport links to all destinations, altogether provide a favorable environment for all forms of tourism. ∗ Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, http://pks.komora.net, Statistic Office of the Republic of Serbia http://www.statserb.sr.gov.yu/ 3 Economic potentials∗ 1. Agriculture and food industry Dominant economic branch with 7 fields, contributes 12% of the region’s total economic income and 28% share in exports; There are numerous capacities for fruit and vegetables processing, meat and milk production and processing, alcohol beverages and mineral water, fodder, tea and spices and tobacco processing; 2. Chemical industry Represented with over 100 companies; 3,777 employees and 3% share of the total industrial production; Includes production of cellulose fibers, silk, fertilizers, pharmaceutical products, plant protection agents, plastic products, PVC upholstery, packing material etc; 3. Metal industry Represented with 8 economic branches: ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, metal processing, machine construction, electrical machine and equipment production, transport vehicles production. A total of 300 enterprises, with about 5,000 employees, and 21% share in the total income. 4. Building materials industry Based on rich natural resources including quartz sand, coalmine, clay, and granite, stone; 71 enterprises, 2,241 employees and 2M USD exports. 5. Wood processing industry Represented with over 130 enterprises in the sphere of primary wood processing producing higher levels of final products for furniture and furniture elements. About 7% share of industrial production. 6. Textile Leather and Foot-wear industry Represented with over 70 enterprises and over 4,000 employees with 5% share of the total industrial production; The leading capacities are for the production of textiles: - viscose silk, stockings and garments. 7. Printing industry ∗ Chamber of Commerce of Serbia, http://pks.komora.net/, Ministry of finance, Republic of Serbia, http://www.mfin.sr.gov.yu, Statistic Office of the Republic of Serbia http://www.statserb.sr.gov.yu/ 4 Represented with over 80 enterprises in the sphere of paper, cardboard and paper packing material production and processing, printing and publishing. 8. Industrial waste collection and recycle industry Represented with 12 enterprises, 300 employees and 3 % share of the industrial production. 9. Building industry Represented with about 200 enterprises in all spheres: design and engineering, civil and road construction, assembly and finishing works. 10. Trade Represented with 1.165 enterprises with 34 % share of the total income. 11. Tourism and catering The region possesses accommodation capacity in over 166 facilities (hotels, motels, resort facilities) with 1,902 rooms and 9,188 beds, as well as 1,426 catering facilities (mountain and spa tourism). Development of hunting tourism due to the presence of large hunting grounds - 538,078 ha, as well as fishing tourism with rivers and lakes rich in fish; There is also tourism potential in the cultural and historical heritage found in the region originating from prehistoric times, through the Roman period, Middle Ages, to more recent historical monuments. 12. Transport and telecommunication There are 186 transport enterprises with 2,196 employees, and 4.58% share of the total income. There is substantial potential related to the Commodities – transport center and the Free Trade Zone Sabac. Telephony is digitized with about 150,000 connections and provides good connection towards transit and international automatic telephone exchanges. The node centers in Valjevo, Sabac and Loznica are connected to the national transmission system rings with up to 10 Gb/s capacity and to the regional rings with up to 2.5 Gb/s. The region is covered by the ISDN network (Integrated Service Digital Network), able to offer DSL connections (Digital Subscriber Loop) and most of the IN (Intelligent Network) platform services. There are several major Internet providers operating in the region, with large broadband capacity in the national Internet provider network, such as: PTT, Verat, Infograf, etc. Because of the big Back Bone enabled by “Telekom,” these providers can always increase their broadband capacities. The network of the two mobile operators “Telekom” (064 and 065) and “Mobtel” (063 and 062) cover 90% of the territory of the region. 5 13. Infrastructure The most noteworthy infrastructural projects are the following: • Reconstruction of the trunk road routes M19, M21, M24 and M4, a total of 195.5 km. • Reconstruction of power, water supply and sewage reticulation, gasification (Sabac, Loznica, M. Zvornik, Bogatic, with the other municipalities in the region yet to come); • Construction of city central heating plants and hot water supply, a12 M EUR project covering Valjevo and Loznica; • “Stubo Rovni” – water supply project, second stage; • Water management courses covering the Drina, the Sava, the Kolubara, and the Tamnava rivers in the areas of water protection, flood control, irrigation; • There is a substantial geothermal potential. 14. Ecology The environmental sphere is one of the top priorities for the region’s future development: • Industrial waste management and recycling; • Rehabilitation of the existing landfills; • Construction of new land fills; • Waste water treatment; • Rehabilitation of soiled areas; rehabilitation of waste areas in the Veliki Majdan and Zajaca mines, re-cultivation of the Kolubara coalmine. 15. Some successful enterprises in Kolubara and Mačva* Hemopharm Koncern Zorka – Pharma AD, Šabac