Businesspeople and officials on one hand and environmental groups on the other are gearing up for a tussle over the planned €146.4mn investment by Canadian automotive giant Magna International near Slovenia’s second city Maribor. 

One of Slovenia’s largest ever greenfield investments, this is expected to create a large number of jobs and positively the affect the country’s industrial production, exports and overall economy. However, there is public opposition to the investment on environmental grounds.

The investment by the Austrian branch of the Canadian giant Magna Steyr is scheduled for completion in 2019 and will create 404 new jobs in the first phase. The government also approved an €18.61mn incentive for a paint shop planned by Magna in Hoce-Slivnica near Maribor. 

Construction of Magna’s paint shop is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of this year when Magna's nearby Steyr assembly plant in Graz, Austria, starts assembling the 5-Series sedan for BMW AG and a vehicle for Jaguar Land Rover.

Although the project is set to create jobs in a depressed area of the country, it has faced opposition from environmental groups and the opposition Democratic Party (SDS), which called in May for an emergency session of the parliamentary agriculture committee to debate the issue, according to InvestSlovenia. 

Local activists have voiced over the potential for chemical pollution and plans to cut down around 66 hectares of nearby forest to provide farmers with new land in return for the prime agricultural land they will lose when the plant is built.

However, businesspeople, officials and MPs from the ruling Modern Centre Party (SMC) in Maribor gathered on June 1 to demonstrate their support for the Magna’s investment by, Slovenian Press Agency (STA) reported.

The Stajersko Chamber of Commerce and Industry has launched a petition to support the investment, saying it does not want Magna to become another missed opportunity for the development of the region, STA reported. So far, it has been signed by around 200 people, while a further 2,400 have added their names online. 

“Should the investment fall through, having hit a number of hurdles, also because of the government plans about expropriation of local landowners, environmental issues and the destruction of prime agricultural land, the Štajersko region will not get another chance,” reads the petition.

"We want to highlight the multiplicative effect such an important investment as Magna's has for the region," Stajersko Chamber of Commerce director Aleksandra Podgornik told STA.

"We mostly have small companies and urgently need a big investment or company to push us forward. It is not just about jobs ... the effect will be much bigger," Podgornik said.