The Hospodarske noviny and Pravda dailies informed about the reasons behind a truck protest that was held in front of the EC Representation in Slovakia to show the discontent of the residents of the northern Slovak region of Kysuce concering the slow pace of the D3 highway construction. The truck protest was organized by the petition committee D3 pre KYSUCE and the representatives of the affected villages in northern Slovakia. The mayors of the villages Staskov, Kysucky Lieskovec, Zborov nad Bystricou, Vysoka nad Kysucou, Klubina, Rakova, Skalite and the representatives of the towns Krasno nad Kysucou and Cadca came to the EC Representation seated in Bratislava.
"We want the highway in northern Slovakia to be classified as an international problem and an international highway," said for RTVS Lubomir Janoska, a representative of the petition committee which argues that the problem is not being caused by national tourism, but the international transit which floods the Kysuce region.
As the mayor of the town of Krasna nad Kysucou Frantisek Grappa added: "We have been negotiating this for several years. Our arguments are accepted for the time being and later on, political decisions prevail over the expert recommendations."
The representatives of Brussels in Slovakia say that the completion of the highway is incredibly important in the EC's view since it is a part of the trans-European network. "We have identified the D3 highway as a key investment for Slovakia in the new programming period of 2021 - 2027," said the deputy chair of the EC Representation in Slovakia Radim Dvorak on Tuesday after meeting the petition committee D3 pre Kysuce. He also informed that they had agreed to a delegation which would draw attention to the importance of D3 highway in Brussels. The preparation and the construction of the D3 highway is a priority of the National Highway Company. The completion of the construction of the D3 highway stretches is scheduled for 2024 - 2026. The company informed on Tuesday that they are accelerating the preparations of these stretches as much as possible so that these projects could meet the conditions for financing from the new programming period 2021 -2027, respectively from the EIB's sources.
