As Novac/Jozo Vrdoljak writes, the Marina Punat Group is largely, at least in terms of investment, preparing to provide the infrastructure necessary for the reception of more environmentally friendly ships that leave a smaller footprint in nature, as well as to raise the quality of service and offer guests of the marina and its hotels.
”We’ve invested in the construction of an e-charging station for vehicles, the installation of parking metres in the north of the marina, the arrangement of eco-points with burial tanks for waste of much larger capacities than the conventional ones, the strengthening of electricity supply systems, fire protection by installing innovative fixed and mobile water curtain systems, and in some other projects, in the total amount of about eight million this year alone,” explains Renata Marevic, the director of Marina Punat, who notes that the Punat Shipyard will soon celebrate one hundred years of existence, and Marina Punat – sixty years of work.
The director of Marina Punat says that the marina is working intensively on developing plans and collecting documentation for the realisation of investments. Namely, they also applied for an extension of the concession period. For this reason, but also for development reasons and ensuring business sustainability, investments are indispensable.
”We want the Marina Punat Group to be active in this area for a long time, it’s natural that a company whose majority owners are local people from Punat and which is vital for the local, regional community and the state is thinking about its future,” says Marevic.
According to Renata Marevic, investments are also being made in arranging the capacity to accommodate ships on land.
”Our goal is to provide access to all ships on land through dry docks in a few years, which has already been largely achieved. In the sea/water area of the marina, we’re working on additional protection of ships by strengthening all breakwaters with linings, and we’re continuously working on renovating the floors on the piers and maintaining the reception infrastructure. We’re ready to build a new restaurant on the site of the existing one, which we’d demolish, for which we’ve already received the needed construction documentation,” says the director of Marina Punat.
At the same time, the Punat Shipyard is active in the preparation of planning documentation because it will invest in the procurement of a new 500-tonne travel lift and new pools for said travel lifts.
”The Management Board of the Marina Punat Group is working on harmonising and initiating the procedure of amending the spatial plans, because there is a lack of space for servicing ships. A large travel elevator will enable the better organisation of boat servicing and work that doesn’t actively harm the environment. It is customary to service boats in the spring to be ready for the summer season, and other times before accommodation over the winter period.
One such travel lift would allow for the better and easier relocation and layout of ships and we would get room to maneuver and lift other ships. It is a large project that will be very significant for the Shipyard. It should be understood that this is a significant amount of the investment,” explains Renata Marevic, noting that the construction documentation for the travel elevator is expected to be resolved very soon.
In Marina Punat, they’re also investing in the arrangement and construction of a charter centre.
”We’re arranging the space by placing prefabricated fences and large vases with greenery in order to harmonise it with the visual of the new sanitary facility which was built two years ago. We’re working a lot on the landscaping of the marina and arranging the horticulture. Investments are being made in increasing parking capacity and arranging parking areas. This proved necessary especially last year because many guests, instead of by plane, arrived in their own cars. We also plan to build new business premises between the existing nautical equipment stores and markets. So far, we’ve replaced most of the old racks for ships on land with new, galvanised ones, not only because of their appearance but also because of the safety of the vessel,” Marevic stated, listing all the investments and modifications on the cards for Marina Punat.
The Marina Punat Group otherwise employs almost 150 employees directly and enables the operation of another thirty subcontractor companies with more than a hundred employees.
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