Undeveloped coast may become luxurious river port - Construction of quay, house of sports and restaurants under "Marina on the Danube near Kovin" project

As of 2006, when the "Study on networks of marinas on the Danube in the province" was completed, significant efforts have been put into development of nautical tourism in municipalities in the Danube area in Vojvodina. In this document, Dunavac in Kovin and Kovin itself were defined as one of 13 primary locations for the construction of marinas in Vojvodina.

The Master Plan of the municipality implies that the Dunavac site with its overall water and land area is planned for marina facility and space for sports, recreation and tourism, where apart from facilities which do not meet these requirements, nothing else can be built.

An architect, Nebojsa Petkovic, drew designs for marina on the Dunavac site as his Master thesis which he passed in September 2011 at the University of Novi Sad.

Although his project is ready to become reality and accepted as possible solution, its implementation depends on the Detailed Regulation Plan for the Dunavac site that has not been finished yet.

The surface area which marina with all facilities would occupy is one hectare, Nebojsa Petrovic, the author of the project says in his interview with eKapija.

- There are no facilities in that location at the moment, the coast is undeveloped and occasionally the space is used for reloading freight from ships– our collocutor says.

The overall marina would be split into nautical and fishing part. The nautical part would have a capacity of 100 berths and offer docking places for small tourist ships up to 25 meters long.

- Over the winter, when there is no sailing, the dock for tourist (passenger) ships would be turned into a modernly-equipped winter shelter for merchant ships and a protective facility – Petkovic explains.

The fishing part would have a capacity of 150 fishing boats.

- There would also be a house of water sports within the marina complex. Sports clubs which could be set up are rowing clubs, swimming clubs, water polo clubs and others.

Construction in three stages

Construction of the marina complex is planned to take place in three stages. The first stage will include the set-up of infrastructure on water, development of coast in line with the project, and the set-up of necessary temporary facilities.

- The preliminary designs for this facility have already been prepared, and the estimated value is around EUR 200,000– says our collocutor.

The second stage should see the construction of the main marina facility (catering part, nautical equipment shops, food stores, marina headquarters, post office, drug store, info and tourist center, toilets, showers, video surveillance and classrooms) and the development of an area with a parking lot. The estimated value of this part of the project is between 800,000 and 1 million euros.

The value of the third stage, which will include the construction of "dry docks“ and workshop complex, outdoor sports courts and campsites, is estimated at EUR 300,000.

In line with EU standards

At the forum Adriatic Economic Cluster Club held in Ancona from 22nd until 25th of June 2013, preliminary designs for the marina in Kovin were unveiled.

Marmontis, a Split-based company engaged in the construction of marina infrastructure and the equipping of marinas, expressed interest in joining the construction of the marina in Kovin. They took preliminary designs prepared by Petkovic to take a good look at them and decide together with their Italian partner, with which they built a marina in Porto Montenegro in Tivat, whether and to what extent to participate in the construction of the Kovin-based marina.

- Also, the result of talks in Ancona is the support promised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce in the process of alignment of overall preliminary designs with all EU standards with the aim of reducing possible problems in the preparation of main designs to a minimum. Thus, it wouldn't be difficult to apply for grants from EU funds for the construction of the marina in the second and the third stage. This support is also important so we could receive a certificate and category for the marina as a whole in the end – Petkovic points out.

By the end of January the Kovin municipality should sign a contract on the development of preliminary designs for the marina in Kovin and the preparation of feasibility study. Final designs will be prepared by a team from the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad, the Transportation and Logistics Cluster of Vojvodina (KTLV), and an expert consultant - SBD Vodomar Kovin. The project will be presented at the Nautical Fair in Belgrade in late March this year.

I.M.