Split Mayor Andro Krstulović Opara, the university rector Dragan Ljutić, and the deans of the Split faculties signed a contract for the city’s development strategy by 2030, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on January 28, 2019.
It is a strategic document which has been mentioned for many years and is intended to define the development of Split in the next decade.
Vinko Muštra, a university coordinator who will lead the entire process, said that more than 200 people would work on this document, and he expects it to see the light of day by the end of 2019, or in the first half of 2020.
“There is no greater honor than when they recognize you in your environment. This wonderful, propulsive city, must be organized in the right way with a development strategy prepared for the future decades. We are proud and will give our best to do everything right. I thank the Mayor for accepting our University as his own because we live in the same town, we achieve results, and it is our turn to show him and prove how strong we are,” said Rector Ljutić.
Krstulović Opara pointed out that the strategy is a document that concerns all of us, which should be a matter of both political and social consensus.
“The Split University is truly a motor of knowledge and capabilities, and we not only recognize this fact, but we are honored that in the next few months, together with the City Development Agency, all the services and directors of public companies will come together for this powerful document that will clearly determine the direction of the development of our city, not only within the administrative boundaries, but even wider. This is something that fills me with great pleasure, and I expect a full consensus of all political forces, but also the social segment,” emphasized the mayor.
Although he claimed that his vision of the city’s development at this time was irrelevant, he revealed that he saw Split as a relaxed city, where it does not matter who the mayor is, nor what political force manages them.
“I see a city in which rules are respected, where we develop a creative and IT industry, which will equate it to a real industry, one that employs, with tourism, which we encourage but has become the dominant economic branch that cannot function in the long run. We want to strengthen innovation, production, and engineering.
Some wanted people from the outside to work on this document, but we think that we know best when it comes to the direction we should be going. Everyone who is going to take part in the making of it will actually build a home for themselves. I want to live in a city where the profession and knowledge will be put in the first plan,” underlined Krstulović Opara and added that he expects to align the city strategy with one at the national level which is in progress.
To read more about Split, follow TCN’s dedicated page.
