May the 18th, 2022 - The Gradac Municipality has decided to invest 1.5 million kuna in giving the waterfront a bit of a facelift of sorts, as part of a wider plan totalling approximately 5 million kuna.

As Morski writes, the Gradac Municipality has announced this year's plan for the management of its maritime domain, in the maintenance of which it will invest around 5 million kuna.

These funds will be raised partly from the budget, partly from fees for concessions and concession approvals, as well as from fees for the use of maritime domain paid by the owners of boats and yachts entered in the register of boats, and from compensation for damage caused by the possible pollution of the maritime domain there.

The plan published in the Municipal Gazette also lists the micro-locations where concession approvals will be issued for certain activities, and the plan for investment in maritime domain in the wider Gradac Municipality.

The Gradac Municipality plans to invest the largest amount of the aforementioned 5 million kuna in funds, around 1.5 million kuna, in the revamping of the waterfront in Gradac, around 340,000 kuna will be invested in the construction of the promenade in Obala Street, and a ''makeover'' of Sunce beach is also planned. An adaptation of the beach for dogs and the construction of the Bosac Roman park are also planned.

Investments in the maritime domain are also planned in Drvenik. About 400 thousand kuna will be spent on the adaptation of the port of Cmilja, 150 thousand kuna will be invested in the first phase of the reconstruction of the west coast of Donja Vala, and there is a plan to install some new ramps at the same location. The revamping of the beach and the paving of the waterfront is expected this year in Zaostrog as well, where the current plan is to pave the waterfront and spend 350 thousand kuna on doing so, as well as to do up the beach in front of Begovi, which will come with a 220 thousand kuna price tag.

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August 13, 2021 - Gradac is currently testing a new dog beach policy that allows dogs at beaches in the heart of the municipality after 7 pm.  But that's not all the animal-friendly Gradac does to help our furry friends. 

'From June 1 to September 30, dogs are allowed to stay on the beach after 7 pm' is a notice that appeared in several places around Gradac, the last municipality on the Makarska Riviera. Although Gradac already has an existing beach for dogs, the new beaches, where dogs are allowed to stay at certain times of the day, are not located outside the municipality, but in its heart, reports Jutarnji List.

"This year we launched a pilot project on several beaches. The idea was to see how it would work - I mean the cleanliness of the beaches in particular. Of course, the owners are responsible for that. If the project succeeds, and we will know that at the end of the summer, then next year we will allow the dogs to bathe on all our beaches after 7 pm," says the mayor Matko Burić.

For now, there is no problem. The owners seem to be cleaning up after their dogs because there are no feces, and those swimmers who come to the beach at that time are not bothered by dogs in the least. Jutarnji List tested it themselves during their stay in Gradac and never noticed any feces, nor any problem with those who found themselves on the beach at the time.

"Next year we plan to make a perfect beach that will be only for dogs. We will fence it so that owners and dogs have their peace, and we will equip it with all the necessary facilities so that it would be good for all our guests. We care about animals and we want all our guests to feel welcome," announced Mayor Burić.

The municipality of Gradac is known among animal lovers for having good cooperation with associations that care for dogs, while cats can live freely on the street and be neutered at the expense of the municipality. Gradac also provides cats with food at several feeding spots, which communal wardens bring every day. As a result, the cat population in that part of the coast is under control, and the cats are healthy. Unlike many places on the coast where the barbaric practice of poisoning cats before the season is common, Gradac resolves the issue civilly and humanely.

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