Nature Park Kopački Rit goes green!
To provide visitors with an enhanced experience when visiting Kopački Rit, the Nature Park has presented their newest project: the Labud boat. The boat is the first electric powered boat with photo-power battery charging panels, reports HRTurizam on June 29, 2017.
The total value of the electric vessel was 3.1 million HRK and it was funded by the Global Fund for the Environment (GEF) and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU). The investment was made possible through the PARCS project which was implemented by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The contractor of the boat was the company Metalac PNT d.o.o. from Bedekovčina, and the boat was created in cooperation with JU PP Kopački rit.
“Kopački Rit Nature Park is the oldest nature park in Croatia, home to more than 2,300 species and nesting around 140 species of birds every year. Over the past few years, Kopački rit has made the most of the resources available for visitor infrastructure in the protected areas. Therefore, it is no surprise that just last year, the park attracted nearly 40,000 people and achieved a 30% growth in visitors. Modern infrastructure provides visitors with better information on natural values and the importance of a healthy ecosystem for humanity while raising the quality level of visitors’ management and the protected area as a whole. In the next period, we have over 1 billion HRK of EU funds available, and for the visitor infrastructure of national parks and nature parks, we have provided 650 million HRK,” said Igor Kreitmeyer, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy.
In addition to the electric boat, which has a capacity of 60 passengers, the PARKS project funded the first phase of the electrification of the Veliki Sakadaš pier to ensure the fast and secure recharging of the boat’s batteries in cases where collecting solar energy is insufficient.
