Transport Problems (Sep 2021)
SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE PROSPECTIVE NEW RAILWAY LINE IN SLOVENIA
Abstract
Socio-Economic Impact Assessment (SEIA) represents the most widely used tool for determining the potential current and future social and economic impacts of proposed infrastructure and other development projects and for developing appropriate policies and measures by which the identified adverse effects can be mitigated or eliminated, and positive social and economic impacts can be effectively capitalized on for the benefit of communities in which the projects are spatially located. In Slovenia, SEIA is not legally binding; for this reason, its use depends on the content and nature of specific development projects as well as on the assessments of the contracting entity. In this paper, the results of a partial SEIA of the new railway link site selection in the Pomurska region on the route Bad Radkersburg (A) - Murska Sobota (SLO) are presented. The assessment was carried out at three hierarchical territorial levels: at the level of EU, the Republics of Slovenia and Austria; at a wider cross-border level that includes the Austrian Province of Styria and the Slovenian Podravska and Pomurska regions; and at a narrower cross-border level, covering the area between the Austrian town Bad Radkersburg and the Slovenian town Murska Sobota, also including some other important settlements on the Slovenian side of the border. For the purpose of the analysis, we prepared a proposal for four corridors of the new railway line on the route Bad Radkersburg - Murska Sobota. The proposed corridors were evaluated considering the set of seven selected criteria and three evaluation parameters. With the help of the implementation of partial SEIA, we selected the most suitable corridor for the prospective new railway line in this part of Slovenia. We ascertain that SEIA is an appropriate instrument for evaluating the social, economic, and partly also spatial impacts of transport infrastructure planning and construction. Therefore, we suggest that it would be advisable to consider its future inclusion in the relevant legal and regulatory framework in Slovenia.
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