April 26, 2021 - Former Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Ludovik Cernak seeks concession to build a marina with 250 berths in Sucuraj on Hvar, a project worth half a billion kuna.
A few years ago, there were open protests in Sucuraj on Hvar and the very thought that a large marina would be built in their town, primarily due to fears for the fate of a nearby beach, now the news that the Ministry of the Sea has announced its intention to grant a concession has been accepted. The construction of the nautical facility includes a planned 250 berths.
As Slobodna Dalmacija reports, the tender documentation stipulates that the state grants the selected partner the right to manage the maritime domain for 30 years. It is a little more than 100 thousand square meters of sea and land space, and the value of the concession for the entire duration is estimated at almost half a billion kuna.
The potential investors will have to submit their bids by June 18 to the Zagreb headquarters of the relevant administration.
"With the realization of this project, which we have been working on for several years, a marina will be built in Sucuraj, which will be among the 20 leaders in our part of the Adriatic in terms of size. To get to this stage, we had to make an urban development plan, enroll in the "maritime domain," and obtain all necessary certificates from the relevant ministries. Still, we are not sorry because the nautical tourism port will bring us progress and revive the eastern part of the island as a whole," says Ivan Slavić, chief of Sućuraj municipality.
However, this is a repeated tender for the same future marina, originally announced in 2018, because the Government then awarded the concession to the Czech company "MFA Invest" from Brno. Still, the procedure was subsequently annulled as a foreign potential investor did not provide a bank guarantee of one percent of the total project value.
Now, a new procedure is starting at the initiative of Czech and Slovak investors, namely the mentioned company and the company "Marina Sucuraj," which was founded last year by the real estate "Sitno Holding Real Estate" from Bratislava, owned by entrepreneur Ludovit Cernak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy in two mandate during the 1990s; and the former president of the right-wing Slovak People's Party, whose member and later president of that state is Ivan Gašparovič. 17 years ago, he became the owner of the football club "Slovan" from the Slovak metropolis, which was then in a deep financial and results in crisis, and after "recovering" under the leadership of members of the Cernak family, five years later he was sold to entrepreneur Ivan Krotnik.
A potential foreign investor on the Croatian islands is currently much better known for last year's purchase of 77,000 square meters of municipal land near Lukoran in Ugljan for just under 20 million kunas. Although the deal did not go without "tails" and calling out local oppositionists for (too) cheap sale of public plots, a representative of Cernak's company, after signing a contract with the Municipality of Preko, announced that in four years, it would build a settlement with 220 villas, two moorings with 150 berths and a hotel with 500 beds, with a total value of as much as 150 million euros.
As for the project in Sucuraj, if, in the end, the mentioned investors get a concession, the initial amount of the permanent part of the fee will be two kunas per square meter of occupied maritime property. However, the amount of the permanent part of the concession fee after the tenth year of operation will increase every five years by 50 lipa per square meter of occupied space at sea and on land, and the minimum variable part of the fee will be two percent of the revenue generated in the area entrusted with the management.
"I believe that these are serious investors and that they have long ago made all the necessary calculations related to the job they are entering, and as far as the benefits for our municipality are concerned, we expect new employment in the first place. The marina will employ 12 to 15 full-time employees and a dozen more seasonal workers. Still, we are certainly counting on the accompanying facilities and activities that will be necessary during the operation of the marina", said Chief Slavić.
However, Sućurani expects a longer tourist season to realize the new content because they already have a lot of ships sailing through the Hvar and Neretva canals. When they have an attractive port on their sea route, the number of boaters will surely grow.
The first onshore gas station will be built in that part of the island, and a private initiative will be strengthened in the surrounding bays so that tourists can enjoy the beauties of the unique landscape and good gastronomic offer of their hosts and spend evenings and nights in a safe harbor—the easternmost town of Hvar.
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