An extraordinary project has been set in motion in Istria: Šikuli, a small abandoned village close to Labin, will soon become an enormous construction site
The City of Labin signed a contract with Russian investor Valery Garipov earlier this week, allowing for the deserted village to become a site for residential development, reports Glas Istre on December 16, 2017. Garipov’s company Šikuli Residence is planning to build a tourist complex, a zone for sports and recreation, and a residential area.
The entire reconstruction project is named ‘YourCroatiaHoliday – Istrian Heritage Village Šikuli’. The village is to be found 7.5 kilometres southeast of Labin, an attractive location set 2 kilometres away from the coast, overlooking Kvarner bay and its islands. Šikuli is protected by the Ministry of Culture as part of the category of historic monuments and goods.
The project features three individual parts, the first being reconstruction of 12 houses that are currently in ruins to later be rented out or sold to private owners. The planned capacity for the residential area is 96 beds. The second is the Area of Tourist Development which entails construction of a new hotel, a boutique hotel, and an apartment complex with a combined total capacity of 550 beds. The zone for sports and recreation will see a new sports centre, featuring a golf course, courts for volleyball, tennis and basketball, a children’s playground, an aqua park, an adrenaline park, cycling tracks and promenades.
At the moment, 81 percent of the entire area is owned by the investor, while the rest of the land is either state property or privately owned. Construction works are supposed to start in spring of 2019, and we might see the project aiming to revitalise the abandoned village finished as early as 2022.
