Will Pula’s neglected side finish its makeover in time?
As Glas Istre/Leonid Slijepcevic writes on the 24th of March, 2018, in the attractive, but fairly neglected northern part of Pula Bay, in the area of former military zones of Sv. Katarina i Monumenti, the tourist oriented nautical mega-project of Kermas Istra, owned by the entrepreneur Danko Končar, is in the process of being realised.
Since 2011, when Kermas Istra’s bid was accepted for the works in an international tender, the value of this project has increased almost three times over, and now it is estimated that the project will cost around 65 million euro. The construction of two nautical ports are planned. Based on the Maritime Concession Contract, which was signed almost one year ago, back in April 2017, it was established that the modern nautical-tourist complex of Sv. Katarina – Monumenti has to built and completed within three years.
Until recently, the ”care” for the aforementioned area was a concern of the state, which wasn’t particularly successful in its efforts in protecting this location, which, in Croatia’s more recent history, has crossed over from being a military zone, to undergoing the process of demilitarisation, to an unfortunately long-term state of almost total deposition and neglect.
The problems this area faces would be best illustrated by the fact that almost one hectare and one half of the landfill must be repaired. Kermas Istra’s investment is being implemented in stages, and is currently in the realisation of the first phase of the very first stage, where more than 250 moorings will be provided. The planned completion of phase one is expected in July this year, and it is expected that the deadlines will be respected regardless of any obstacle along the path to realisation.
It turned out that the exit from the recession and awakening of the construction sector, instead of providing relief and making things a bit easier, became quite the opposite in regard to projects which needed to be completed.
On the one hand there is already a deficit in construction on the market, and at the same time a good number of contractors who can do the job, and do it well, are already busy and engaged heavily elsewhere, in other things. This was also the case when the contractor was selected on a technically demanding and complicated reconstruction of a bridge connecting the mainland and the island of Sv. Katarina. In the end, however, a contractor with sufficient capacity and quality business references was eventually found, so the final contract was contracted with the ING-GRAD company from Zagreb.
The value of these works is somewhat higher than seven million kuna, and whether or not they’ll be completed in the aforementioned three year time frame remains to be seen.
