[size=55:23rmkthl]BNR

Coping with unemployment in the town of Tran



Back in 1939 in the town of Tran, close to the border with Serbia, people were exploiting gold deposits. Nowadays this part of the country grows depopulated with soaring unemployment. The economic crisis has closed down one of the few enterprises in the region – the plant for the producing water and sewer pipes. The company for bottling mineral water in the village of Transka Bankya is also extinct, depriving the municipality of jobs and concession taxes. Currently its only revenues come from local taxes. However the maintenance of sites and infrastructure in the municipality should continue. Tran Mayor Stanislav Nikolov has found a way for meeting these needs on the one hand and opening new jobs, on the other. Just for the record – unemployment there reaches 25%. With the help of EU financing under the Human Resources Development programme and through the sponsorship of the social ministry’s encouragement programmes the Mayor would provide work for those registered in the employment bureau. One third of the population is of Roma origin and so are most of the jobless for the lack of adequate qualification. Mayor Nikolov hopes that by May about 550 people of the total of 700 unemployed would get a job.

“The first 100 people we have hired are already at work, the Mayor explains. They are engaged with the maintenance of public buildings on the territory of the town of Tran and the other 51 settlements of the Municipality. The next 200 people will be working on the maintenance of the roads in town and those linking surrounding villages. Tran Municipality has 150 such roads. So the people we would employ would be building and repairing these roads and clearing adjacent territories. Furthermore we would engage another 100 people in planting and grassing green areas across the municipality.”

Unemployed people in Tran Municipality would be also attracted to the personal assistant programme for providing help for the disabled. The Mayor has closed down the elderly social home in the village of Slishovtsi and has accommodated its inhabitants in the former hospital building, which has been renewed in the format of family homes. In this way he has given a job to 20 people servicing the establishment.
Mayor Stanislav Nikolov is of the opinion that on the long run Tran Municipality should develop tourism. The vicinity of the Erma River gorge is a natural site and a protected territory. The picturesque woodland slopes of Ruy Mountain are also very attractive. According to the Mayor the improvement of the road grid in the region will revive the municipality and would open new business opportunities. And that is the only way to keep people in their native places.

“I have always been saying that tourism is one of the best perspectives Nikolov goes on to say. On the other hand Tran region covers 15 thousand hectares of woodlands and logging gains momentum opening a considerable number of jobs. Timber demand for the furniture making industry is also growing. So this is yet another advantage of our municipality. We are glad to say that we closed last year with no debts. We even had a profit of about EUR 30 thousand, unlike many other municipalities”, Tran Mayor Stanislav Nikolov said.