Divača

Austrian multinational RHI Magnesita has completed a €93 million takeover of Seven Refractories, a Divača-based manufacturer of materials resistant to high temperatures. This should allow the Slovenian company to grow further.

Seven Refractories was founded in 2010 by seven partners, among them engineer and director Erik Zobec, a member of the Slovenian ethnic community in Italy.

After a delay of over four years, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has given the final stamp of approval for an up to €250 million loan for the Koper-Divača rail project, slated for completion at the end of 2025.

A new rail track under construction between the port of Koper and the Divača junction inland will in the future be expanded into a double-track railway. The government endorsed the plan on 24 January, two weeks after releasing a new cost estimate and completion date of the first track.

Koper – A fire that broke out last night under Socerb hill in a hard-to-access area near the border with Italy, south-east of Trieste, has not yet been contained, with a strong bora wind spreading it downhill towards the villages of Osp in Slovenia and Prebenico in Italy. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Divača – The first of the seven tunnels on route of the new railway linking the port town of Koper with the Divača railway junction was broken through on Monday with officials telling the ceremony they could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ljubljana/Vienna – Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec met his Austrian counterpart Leonore Gewessler in Vienna on Thursday to discuss bilateral cooperation, especially in transport and infrastructure, and bilateral relations. They agreed cooperation should be strengthened in infrastructure.

Ljubljana – The National Assembly has narrowly rejected opposition-sponsored changes to the act on the construction of a new railway line between the port of Koper and Divača seeking to strike out the option that allows foreign capital to be invested in the project. Coalition MPs pointed to the role of foreign countries in the port’s development.

Ljubljana – The National Review Commission has rejected the appeal by the Austrian builder Strabag against the decision by the state-owned company 2TDK to pick a Slovenian-headed consortium as the contractor for the Divača-Črni Kal section of the new railway to the port of Koper. This ends all review procedures related to the project.

Ljubljana – The opposition Left has drafted a bill to exclude potential foreign partners from Slovenia’s construction of the rail track between Divača and the port of Koper. The party believes Slovenia should have full control of this strategic infrastructure, while Hungary’s participation would have many negative consequences.

Ljubljana – The Austrian builder Strabag has appealed against the decision by the state-owned company 2TDK to pick a Slovenian-headed consortium as the contractor to build the new railway between Koper and Divača.