Some good news for islanders and their visitors in the wider Dubrovnik area!
As Dubrovacki Dnevnik writes on the 27th of November, 2017, Dubrovnik-Neretva County’s long-standing Prefect Nikola Dobroslavić held a meeting with the director of the coastline traffic agency, Paula Vidović, and Jadrolinija’s David Sopta. The meeting was attended by representatives of port administrations from all over county, as well as numerous local self-government units.
Among other things, the meeting was good ground for talks on the potential introduction of a line between the relatively nearby island of Lastovo and Dubrovnik.
“We discussed the situation and the problems of connecting the county by sea. We’ve found that in recent years, we’ve made a number of positive steps in order to increase ship capacities by adapting the timetables, but there are still other problems that we’ve got to solve.
In particular, the problem of connecting Lastovo to Dubrovnik through the Lastovo-Korčula-Mljet-Dubrovnik fast-freight line is particularly high on the list. We’ve determined that the capacity and capabilities of the ship that goes from Lastovo via Vela Luka to Split aren’t good enough. We also talked about a new ship for the Elaphite islands that we expect to build quickly, as well as the issue of ticket prices for the population who don’t live on the islands in order to make it easier for both tourists and citizens to come to the island and to make the costs for businessmen more favourable.
There were also words about the need to introduce more frequent lines between Trpanj and Ploče. We’ve agreed that we’ll solve these problems in contact with Jadrolinija and the Agency, as well as with the competent ministries. I expect that we’ll try to get a new line between Lastovo and Dubrovnik through our joint efforts within an objective timeframe and improve the situation on our existing lines,” said Nikola Dobroslavić.
On the subject of the potential new line between Dubrovnik and Lastovo, Paula Vidović stated that it must be prescribed by the government’s decision on state lines. She announced she would go to the ministry herself with the proposal.
“To underline that in 2017, 297 million kuna was spent on island funds. In 2018, 310 million kuna will be allocated. Tenders for all the lines and for the lines in the Dubrovnik area were announced and successfully completed. Split-Hvar-Prigradica-Korčula and Dubrovnik-Suđurađ lines will be completed in December,” Vidović concluded.
Sopta also touched on the pressing issue of future projects.
“The basic idea of Jadrolinija is to try to raise the quality of service on our boats. We’ve already done this with the Orebić-Dominče-Orebić lines with new ships, and in relation to the Ploče-Trpanj route. There is evident satisfaction with it.
We’re aware of Lastovo’s problem and the acquisition of a new ship. We’re working intensively on this and in the first quarter of next year, our goal is to open up a tender for the construction of a new ship for Lastovo. As for the Elaphite islands, Jadrolinija is preparing a tender for the construction of a new ship.
Dubrovnik’s decisive Mayor Mato Franković announced that the City of Dubrovnik would subsidise the tickets for the islanders by 100% and that’s great news. Instead of the existing ship, Postira, we promise to introduce a new, modern ship that will greatly enhance the quality of service. The international line between Dubrovnik and Bari, Italy, was also a topic of discussion. We increased the timetable by one month compared to last year and we’re also seeing progress in regard to that,” Sopta concluded.
