August the 16th, 2023 – Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia’s oldest and largest national park, is renewing its electric boat fleet. It plans to add two new vessels worth 3.9 million euros.
As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes, the gorgeous and wildly popular Plitvice Lakes National Park is in the process of renewing its fleet of tourist electric boats to improve the infrastructure for tours of the park. The procurement of three new electric ships with a capacity of 100 passengers is now underway, for which Plitvice Lakes National Park is ready to allocate 3.9 million euros without VAT. The boats should be up to fifteen metres long, and since it is a national park on the UNESCO World Heritage List, it must also meet additional requirements.
Certain materials aren’t permitted for environmental reasons
Aluminium, for example, isn’t a permitted material due to galvanic corrosion, and additional conditions that must be adhered to during design phase are also specified with an emphasis on pollution and noise. The tender envisages the dynamics of the construction and delivery of the ships to take place in stages. The deadline for performing the works is currently 32 months from the conclusion of the contract.
The existing fleet of tourist boats boasts by Plitvice Lakes National Park is eight boats. Six are large and two are smaller with a capacity of 50 passengers. Electric boats were introduced on Lake Kozjak as early as 1977, and the last new boat was purchased in 2014. The value of the purchase stood at 1.1 million kuna. Croatian shipyards, already engaged in similar work for other parks, will certainly be interested in the tender for these works. Who exactly will build these marine reinforcements for the Plitvice fleet will be clearer on September the 12th, 2023, which is the deadline for bid submission as things currently stand.
Among the propositions, it was also stated that, in accordance with EU rules, companies with proprietary ties to Russia will be eliminated from the procedure. When choosing an offer, however, the price will not be a decisive criterion. The environmental acceptability of the project will have equal importance, while the project solution, the experience of experts and the type of guarantee offered also carry weight.
