THE DISTRICT OF MONTANA
The area of the Montana District encompasses 3 635.5 km2 and the population is 179.741 people. Its administrative centre is the City of Montana. The District includes the following Municipalities: Berkovitsa, Boychinovtsi, Vurchedrum, Vurshets, Georgi Damyanovo, Lom Medkovets, Montana, Chiprovtsi, Yakimovo. Economy
The District economy has been developed in a variety of branches. The old balance of the branches has been changed - some of the main industrial branches have been kept, while some have been transformed. The private sector has a leading role in the employment.
The leader in the District economy is industry. The most important in its structure is the processing industry. Most of the enterprises in this sector are SMEs. The branch of services is the second largest economy sector, employing 23.45% of all employees. The “trade, repair and technical services” branch has the biggest share of the sales income structure. This branch is very dynamic, and the companies are micro and family businesses.
The Harbour of Lom has a structure-defining importance for the District economy. The national importance of the Harbour is based on the strategic position of the town of Lom, which is the most efficient connection between to EU corridors – Corridor № 7- the Danube and the Corridor № 4, connecting the river with Thessaloniki. The cargoes from the harbor arrive to Regensburg and Duisburg in Germany, to the east and south with the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The built infrastructure provides a direct land connection Lom -Thessaloniki. The Harbour of Lom realises about 40 % of the Bulgarian cargo on the Danube.
Agriculture is traditional for the District; however, for some time it has been going through a period of crisis. This branch is a basis for the development of the processing industry, but for its successful functioning investments in new machinery, improvement of sorts for plant-growing, and quality species of domestic animals are deemed necessary. The agriculture sector is represented by small farms and cooperatives.
The diversity of soil is one of the natural preconditions for the territory specialisation and zone development of agricultural production. The Danube valley has black soil, the Predbalkan – grey forest soil, and the mountain – brown forest and mountain-meadow soil.
There are iron, silver and leaden ores in the Municipality of Chiprovtsy; cooper, silver and gold ores next to the villages of Govejda, Diva Slatina, Dulgi del and Kopilovtsi; marble – Municipality of Berkovitsa; fire proof clay – the villages of Klisuritsa and Dolna Riksa. The Lom coal pool is formed in the northern part of the region between the rivers of Tsibritsa and Lom on 300 km2 area.
Foreign direct investments have a huge importance for the development of economy. The largest foreign investments in the industry are made in the “metallurgy and metal equipment production” branch in the Municipality of Montana and in the “production of food and drinks” brand in the Municipalities of Berkovitsa and Vurshets. During the last 4 years, there has been an inflow of investments of about 4 M Levs in the field of agriculture in the Municipalities of Lom, Berkovitsa and Montana. Tourism
The Montana District is out of the traditional tourism regions, but is close to the Districts with tourist attractions which can complete its opportunities for the development of regional tourism products. These opportunities can be considered from the view point of cross-border cooperation, as well. Transport
Because of its territorial position, the District of Montana is connected with all the country settlements and border points by means of roads and railroads. The railroad Sofia-Mezdra-Vratsa-Vidin with its add-on from Boychinovtsi to Montana and Berkovitsa and from Brusartsi to Lom is the economic axis of the District.
The road system has internal and regional importance. It includes two roads: Lom-Montana-Sofia, then Vidin-Boychinovtsi-Vratsa-Botevgrad-Sofia, and the international road Е - 79.
Water transport is the main factor of the regional development, too. The Harbour of Lom is the second in size on the Bulgarian part of the Danube. It is the shortest connection between Western Europe, Bulgaria and the White Sea.
The Petrohan Passage is of major importance, because it is a part of the shortest route between Sofia and the north-east part of Bulgaria.
|
