After adding up the results, the port of Korčula fulfilled their goals and plans for 2016, as was evidenced by an increase in the number of arrivals, especially of those sailing into the port of Korčula, said Vedran Leleković, director of the County Port Authority in Korčula.
After analyzing the data of all who entered through Korčula’s port in 2016, the total achieved was 1,123,085 passengers, which is an increase of 7% compared to 2015 (1,041,293), reports Slobodna Dalmacija on January 5, 2017.
“This year we expect that the total passenger traffic through the port of Korčula will cross the figure of 1,200,000 passengers, which compares Korčula with Split and other ports in Croatia, after Dubrovnik. Unfortunately, both of Korčula’s waterfronts remain of the Austro-Hungarian Empire making it a great procedure to build a new port in Korčula because the said city waterfront, from East and West, can not receive boats more than a hundred meters. According to plans, construction on the new port should begin building in 2020,” notes Leleković.
The new port will be built on the site Polačišta (Lumbarda), just five kilometers from the town of Korčula. The port will be led by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, and will be financed from the operational program of transport for the 2014./2020. year.
The port will be optimized in accordance with the needs and the depths of the sea and its estimated worth is about 70 million kuna, which is significantly less than the original versions for the port, whose construction was estimated at 200 million kuna.
“After the feasibility study we will begin making environmental impact studies, then the preliminary design, location permit, followed by the main project and construction permits,” said an optimistic Leleković.
Construction of the new port is a massive project not only for Korčula but also for this part of the Adriatic because it could, on one hand, dock and receive cruisers up to 200 meters in length, and on the other hand it would be used for ships that maintain the coastal line (ferries with a length of about 130 meters) and have a third port for smaller ferries (50-90 meters) on the line over the Peljesac channel and to Drvenik. The pier will provide accommodation for two hundred cars on the embarkation and disembarkation tracks, which for Korčula is very important – a parking lot with two hundred parking spaces will help lessen the famous summer crowds at the current small coast.
“In 2017 we will create a development strategy for ŽLU Korčula, which will be a document that will include an assessment of the current state of the port authority, guidance development, conceptual design of the planned development of all port areas of Zavalatica, Račišća, Kneža to Korcula for the period of the next ten years,” said Leleković, with the intent of this document made in cooperation with the city of Korčula.
