You’re all pretty familiar with the construction going on at Split Airport by now, which has seen an investment of more than 450 million kuna go into a new terminal and additional facilities. It is only necessary, because more than three million passengers traveled through Split Airport last year alone.
It is known that the project is progressing faster than planned and that the end of works, instead of the previously announced September, could be in June, that is, three months earlier. On Tuesday, the Minister of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković and his associates came to see the project for themselves and stated that this is an investment of strategic importance for Split-Dalmatia County and the city of Split, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on March 19, 2019.
Among other things, the media was interested in the name of the ‘new airport’, with one reporter asking the minister whether it would be named after Oliver Dragojević, with all due respect to the deceased music legend. Butković asked a question in return: “Don’t you think the new airport should be named “Airport Kaštela”, since 95% of the space in which the airport operates and is located in the town of Kaštela?
At this point I have no answer to that question, it is a job for a broader debate at the local level, and after the debate is over, the proposal goes to the ministry,” Minister Oleg Butković answered, expressing satisfaction with the works that have been done so far.
The construction site the minister visited includes a 35,000 square meter passenger terminal, a 120-meter pedestrian bridge, a bus terminal for 50 buses and a parking lot with a capacity of 900 vehicles, as well as the reconstruction work of the existing terminal.
“The project is of strategic importance to Split-Dalmatia County and the city of Split, and its realization will enable the passenger terminal capacity to be matched with expected traffic demand, achieving a high level of safety and quality of service at the airport and meeting the EU standards for the international border crossing at Split Airport,” added Butković. The first man at Split Airport, Lukša Novak, added that this season expects an increase in the number of passengers by seven percent, which means nearly four million passengers.
Split-Dalmatia County prefect Blaženko Boban, who visited the airport with the mayor of Kaštela Denis Ivanović and Split Andro Krstulović Opara, said that the meeting with the minister was constructive and added that the dynamics of the deadlines and traffic plans of the agglomeration of Split goes according to previous arrangements.
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