Leskovac is also a transport junction. International trains which, from Europe, travel to Skoplje, Salonica and Athens, pass through this city.
The Valley of Leskovac is criss-crossed with roads. The most important is the road E 75 which connects Hungary and the Macedonian border. From Leskovac, regional roads lead to Priština, Pirot and Bosilegrad. The distance from Leskovac to Niš is 45, to Belgrade 280, to Sofia 155, and to Skoplje 160 km. In each of these cities an airport was built for guests of Leskovac, on which they can land when coming, and from which they ca take off when leaving.
The municipality of Leskovac, with its 162,000 inhabitants and 1,025 sq km area, is one of the largest municipalities in Serbia. It lies in the heart of the spacious and fertile Valley of Leskovac (50 km long and 45 km wide). It embraces part of the Valley of the Južna Morava River and parts of the river basins of its tributaries, the Veternica and Jablanica Rivers. The basic feature of its geo-transportational position is that it lies on the composite depression of the Morava and Vardar river valleys. The natural backbone roadways of trans- European traffic, and even of inter-continental road and railroad traffic.
It's largest settlement, the city of Leskovac, was shaped on the spot at which natural roads meet, or from where these disperse, along the longitudinal and transversal directions which lead along the valleys of the rivers Južna Morava, Veternica, Jablanica and Vlasina.
With 144 settlements, the municipality of Leskovac is the most dotted in Serbia. Three inhabited settlements are of the city type, of which Leskovac is the economic, socio-political, cultural and immigration centre of the entire region. At this time, 65,000 inhabitants live in it, representing 40% of the municipality.
The network of roads of the municipality of Leskovac consists of 614 km of roadways. Compared to a few years ago, this is a significant increase, although mostly in the category of local roads.
Category of Road |
Length |
Modern Pavement |
% of Roads with Modern Pavement |
---|---|---|---|
Мain Road Regional Local Total |
64 153 397 614 |
64 104 152 320 |
100 68 38.3 52.1 |
Segments of two main roads pass through the territory of the municipality of Leskovac (M-1 and M-9), of a total length of 64 km. The main roads have asphalt pavement, and part of the M-1 road has been recently modernized. Of the total length of the regional network, 68% have modern pavement, and of the local network, 38.3% (152 km).
In conditions of continuous economic development in the past 50 years, for which industrial development was the main generator, significant changes were achieved in the scope and structure of the workforce of the municipality of Leskovac.
According to data from the last census, there are over 70,000 active workers registered in the labor market, and it is estimated that there were 72,000 in 2003.
The entrepreneurial potential of the Leskovac municipality is determined with over 1,000 small and medium size companies (804 private), over 3,600 private shops and 23 privatized public companies. In small and medium size private companies and shops there are nearly 12,000 workers, of which only 4,400 are employers.
Rise in number of SMEs and shops from 4,663 in 2003 to 8,300 in 2008
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
Diff. |
Index |
Last year |
|
2008 - 2003 |
2008-2003 |
rate % |
|||||||
No. of SMEs & shops |
4,663 |
5,232 |
5,870 |
6,586 |
7,390 |
8,300 |
3,637 |
199.7 |
12.2 |
No. of Unemployed |
21,800 |
24,939 |
28,530 |
32,639 |
37,339 |
42,800 |
21,000 |
196.3 |
14.4 |
Having in mind the desire to have the degree of development of SMEs and entrepreneurship in the municipality of Leskovac in 2008 equal the average of the Republic, the projected average annual rates of growth are above those of the Republic (12.2% compared to 6.0% at the number of SMEs and shops, 14.4% and 11.8% at the growth of employed in the SME sector.) It is noted that without support in the previous 5 year period, private SMEs and shops in the municipality of Leskovac recorded dynamic average annual growth of employment (private SMEs 9.6%, shops 9.1%), and that it is not unrealistic to expect these rates to grow to those projected, with the intended measures and activities.