July 16, 2023 – Two Dalmatian islands are a step closer to being connecting via underwater tunnel. But not everyone is happy, reports Morski.hr.
MILNA – It took seven years for the Šolta – Brač submarine tunnel project to get a more concrete status in the Spatial Plan of the Split-Dalmatia County, and then almost two more for the Municipality of Milna to announce a call for a renewed public debate on the proposal for the first amendment to the Spatial Development Plan in the area municipalities. However, it seems that not everyone is in favor of this proposal.
The Plan proposal will be held on July 19, 2023, starting at 10 a.m. in the school library of the Elementary School in Milna. According to this Plan, the entrance to the tunnel on the Šoltan side would be in the Livka area, and on the Brač side at the Milna point. Connecting roads would naturally lead to the entrance. It will be the first underwater tunnel in Croatia and will cost around 50 million euros.
Has anyone asked the other municipalities?
The idea was criticized in the association “For our Supetar” and they wonder if anyone asked what the other municipalities and Supetar on Brač think about this.
- Šolta’s interest is that by connecting with the big island, they would get the shortest access to Brač airport and thus connect with the whole world. In the summer we would have ferry lines all day, now we have six during the season, and four in the winter, while Brač has at least twice as many – said Nikola Cecić Karuzić, mayor of the Šolta Municipality, adding that those on Šolta were the originators of this idea.
- Lozić, are you normal? (op. Frane Lozić, Mayor of the Municipality of Milna) Which other mayor of Brač did you consult? Is this a matter for the municipality of Milna, or does it also affect the organization of other municipalities? – they ask themselves in this association.
- According to him, the project worth 50 million euros would be almost entirely financed by the European Union, in the amount of 85 to 90 percent.
The possibilities of undersea connection of the two central Dalmatian islands have been replaced by the inclusion of the project in the national road network that is intended to be built.
Cecić Karuzić also notes that discussions about this project have already been held in the relevant ministries, and he announces the imminent start of obtaining documentation – notes the Brac association.
