It seems the preliminary concession contract has been terminated by the Port Authority Administrative Council.
The proposed new Dubrovnik cruise ship terminal, worth over 750 million euros was supposed to be built by the French-Turkish consortium International Cruise Port Investment, however, as Dubrovacki vijesnik reported on July 20,2016, it now seems that the preliminary concession contract was terminated by the Administrative council of the Dubrovnik Port authority.
The contract was automatically annulled because the details of the final concession agreement between the Port Authority and Dubrovnik International Cruise Port Investment founded by Global Ports Holding (GPH) and Bouygues Batiment International (BBI) was never achieved.
According to article 2.5 of the preliminary contract, the deadline for the agreement on all major details was until midnight, July 14, and since the agreement was not reached, the Administrative council of the Port Authority decided to terminate the preliminary contract. 6 members of the board voted in favour of the termination: the president dr Žarko Koboević, and members Nikola Beusan, Ivan Margaretić, Željan Matić, Božidar Memed and Jelka Musladin. Mayor of Dubrovnik Andro Vlahušć abstained from voting while the representative of the Ministry of Transport Nina Perko was absent.
Only four days ago, Dubrovacki.hr reported that the sources close to the French – Turkish consortium “Dubrovnik International Cruise Port Investment” claimed that the concession contract for the construction and use of the passenger terminal in Gruz port was harmonized and settled on July 15 (deadline date), but that was never officially confirmed to this day.
The news of the contract termination was confirmed by Dubrovnik mayor Andro Vlahušić:
- During the Administrative council assembly, we were told that the contract will not be signed since it was passed the set deadline. The project, which was announced by the Prime minister and ministers as the next great national and state investment is now back to square one and it will have to wait for the new government in order to see whether and how we will proceed. I abstained from voting because I do not have enough information or access to the entire project. The government appointed the Administrative council, it is their project. All negotiations with the investors and banks were conducted by the ministry, so I didn’t see the point in voting for or against. I had enough information while I could still speak to the Prime minister and ministers, after that, it was clear they have no concrete opinion on this matter so why should I have one? – mayor Vlahušić commented on the latest developments regarding the Gruz terminal project. He did not want to speculate on the possible repercussion of the contract termination:
-I don’t think they will appeal the decision; I have no idea how the large cruise ship companies will react or how this will affect the rating of the country. This is a question for the government. We’re doing fine here in Dubrovnik. If we don’t have any cruise ships it means there will be no crowds on the city walls or cabs in the port, but it’s not my place to interpret this decision – Vlahušić concluded.
PR representatives of Dubrovnik International Cruise Port Investment were also asked to comment on this new situation:
-Until we receive a written decision on the termination of the preliminary contract, along with a complete explanation of the decision, we will not comment. Not because we are hiding something but because we do not want to do anything that is not in accordance with standard procedures – said Mario Aunedi Medek from the Media Val agency for Dubrovacki vjesnik.
