The facility in Tornaľa will welcome bathers again later this month The water that is currently flowing into this renovated pool comes from Morské Oko 38-metre-deep hole that is sought after by divers from around the world A helping hand in the heart of Europe offers a travel guide of Slovakia "It does not freeze in winter, as the water temperature does not drop below 12 degrees Celsius. In the summer, it is around 18 degrees," Erika Győrfiová, mayor of Tornaľa, told the MY Novohrad website She added that filling the pool will take several weeks The pool should welcome its first swimmers at the end of June There will also be stalls with food and other refreshments the town hall is not planning on operating a campsite this year In the future it wants to expand the offer of the resort with accommodation capacities which was in really bad shape," she concluded The Tornaľa pool in the Králik borough was opened in 1969 A swimming pool was later added to the artificially constructed water reservoir A 155-metre-deep mineral water well can also be found on its premises The water can also be bought in shops under the Gemerka brand name A helping hand in the heart of Europe thanks to the Slovakia travel guide with more than 1,000 photos and hundreds of tourist spots Our detailed travel guide to the Tatras introduces you to the whole region around the Tatra mountains Lost in Bratislava? It's impossible with our City Guide Survival of the comet on its path around the Sun questionable NASA chose another picture taken in Slovakia for its Astronomy Picture of the Day Taken by Czech astrophotographer Petr Horálek on early Sunday morning near the town of Tornaľa it shows Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) shining so bright that it was visible during sunrise "I took the picture yesterday near the village of Gemer near Tornaľa where I was nervously chasing a place with clearer skies I travelled more than 300 kilometres to obtain it The comet is very difficult to observe with the naked eye due to the brightness of the dawn but cameras - if they are pointed in the right direction - will capture it," said Horálek in a press release the comet's path brings it closest to the Sun around 14 million kilometres away from the star Mercury orbits the Sun at a distance ranging from 46,000,000 to 70,000,000 kilometres The comet's close path makes it survival questionable as it will be strongly heated there is hope that the comet will survive its pass - some data suggest that it has fragmented and will be destroyed - and remain bright enough to be seen with the naked eye in the next few days and possibly with a good camera even later The village needs a solution before an ecological disaster The village of Nižná Slaná in south-east Slovakia has asked the state to solve a problem regarding the polluted river Slaná before an ecological disaster occurs The local municipality shared about it on social networks adding that at least temporary solutions could be applied – filters or a cleaning system “The rusty colour of the Slaná River worries more and more people and it affects a large area,” the municipality stated “Water of such a colour can be also seen behind Tornaľa which is 50 kilometres away from the shaft Gabriela from which the orange water is flowing.” a meeting took place at the District Office in Rožňava and subsequently in the area of the former mining plant Siderit which was attended by invited representatives of the local municipality representatives of the Environment Ministry and councillors They should have proposed a solution for cleaning the river and adequate measures to prevent it from reocurring will be put into practice as soon as possible,” the municipality Nižná Slaná declared The Slaná River turned orange in mid-February The reason is the outflow of mining waters from an iron-ore mine in the compound of the former mining company Siderit in Nižná Slaná The authorities that monitor the situation in the river took samples of the water and are waiting for lab test results The mining company Siderit in Nižná Slaná functioned between the years 1975 and 2008 when it went bankrupt The state company Rudné Bane (Ore Mines) said that the company Siderit did not fulfil its commitments to eliminate mining works after mining activities were over Therefor Rudné Bane took necessary measures in 2012 Rudné Bane is currently working on a proposal to include groundwater outflows in the register of environmental burdens IN THE midst of bad news about layoffs and the departure of foreign investors from Slovakia more positive tidings have arrived with the news that several tens of million of euros are being allocated to five Slovaks towns in order to revitalise their old industrial premises of which four are in or near eastern Slovakia will reconstruct and modernise their brownfield sites create new jobs and thus aim to reduce jobless rates near to – or in some cases exceeding – 20 percent create new jobs and thus aim to reduce jobless rates near to – or in some cases exceeding – 20 percent The Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO) announced in early January that Trnava Gelnica and Stropkov will receive a total of more than €37 million from European Union structural funds to revitalise brownfield sites Individual contracts should be signed later this month “The selection committee of the Slovak Economy Ministry and SARIO picked five projects from a total of nine applications requiring a total of €62.9 million,” Jana Murínová Humenné and Brezno failed in their bids to attract funding All of Slovakia’s regions except Bratislava Region qualify for financial assistance from EU structural funds in this call the committee gave preference to regions with higher rates of unemployment the impact on employment in the region and other factors,” Murínová said “The applicants were able to apply for assistance of between €200,000 and €10 million while the total costs of the project could not exceed €50 million.” This was not the last chance to obtain money from EU structural funds to revitalise brownfield sites perhaps even later this year,” Murínová told The Slovak Spectator Out of the towns in eastern Slovak regions Bardejov will receive the largest sum this way - €9.94 million It will use it to revitalise the former premises of footwear producer JAS Bardejov “Bardejov was always known for its tradition in footwear production,” René Semanišin the head of the Bardejov mayor’s office “Even though JAS Bardejov does not exist in its original form any more and the main part of the production is being moved to Asia Bardejov managed to keep some footwear production This means that footwear production will remain the main scope of activities of the revitalised brownfield site.”If everything goes according to plan Bardejov will start reconstruction work in April 2009 and complete it by the end of May 2010 “The ambition of the project is to employ at least 240 people here,” said Semanišin The town suffers from a jobless rate of 18.2 percent and prepared the project in order to help unemployed people find jobs we endeavoured to get a project which was feasible but also in line with real needs of the town with regard to employment,” according to Semanišin is not worried about low interest from investors because of the global crisis “So far we have closed agreements with the Finnish company Jalas India’s Bachi and the German firm Van Elten,” he told the Hospodárske Noviny financial daily should continue the tradition of footwear production in this region.” will get €3.54 million to revitalise its former tractor maintenance company the revitalised premises should provide employment for 60 people,” said Eduard Cichý of EC–EDMA which is acting on behalf of Stropkov in the project.The town hopes that when the whole project is complete “We are intensively communicating with potential investors active in the metalworking and electro-technical industries and in the production of materials for the construction industry,” Cichý told Hospodárske Noviny The revitalised industrial park should prevent a repeat of the situation in which a French delegation was unable to start more detailed negotiations because there were no preparations in the town for the arrival of potential investors which is the district town of an area which had an unemployment rate of 12.82 percent at the end of 2008 is also pondering plans to build a solar power station within the industrial park with an output of 1 megawatt which would cover the electricity consumption needs of 1,100 households Gelnica will support small and medium-sized companies and their innovation activities with the €4.04 million it was allocated the town will invest the funds into the former premises of electro-technical company SEZ Nemčíková hopes that they will manage to attract four or five investors from the electro-technical and light industrial sectors which suffers from an unemployment rate of 16.51 percent The remaining two towns which succeeded in obtaining EU structural funds lie outside eastern Slovakia’s two self-governing regions Trnava will invest €9.58 million into re-building the former premises of Technical and Recreation Services into a town industrial and technology park located just a few kilometres from the borders of the Košice Region in southern Slovakia “We got the money to revitalise the former premises of the clothing producer Ozeta,” Tornaľa Mayor Ladislav Dubovský told The Slovak Spectator “We will modernise one existing hall and build three new halls We hope that 600 people will get jobs here.” Tornaľa plans to start reconstruction work in April 2009 and complete the project by 2010.“A new production programme may start here as soon as this September,” said Dubovský The town worked out the project in order to help those presently unemployed find jobs.“1,200 women used to work in the state-owned Ozeta factory,” said Dubovský “The focus was on the clothing industry and people were used to working in continuous production So we have held talks with potential investors who do something similar.” Dubovský is optimistic and hopes that they will manage to draw investors to the town which reports a jobless rate of about 22 percent “Primarily we have applied for this project to create new jobs because unemployment in this region and the town is high,” said Dubovský We have a strong currency and producers in neighbouring countries are interested in moving their production here.”