Source: JUGinfo Photo: ŽLU Korčula
After a little more than a year, since the works on the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Korčula stopped, good news is finally coming! A new contractor has been chosen, the new port of Korčula on Polačišt continues to be built!
The Korčula County Port Authority has made a decision to select a new contractor for the completion of the New Port of Korčula in Polačište. If the decision becomes final, the remaining work, worth more than 16 million euros excluding VAT, will be taken over by Pomgrad Inženjering d.o.o. from Split. It is one of the leading Croatian maritime construction companies, behind numerous port and coastal projects across the Adriatic, as well as across the islands.
The decision was published in the Electronic Public Procurement Notice of the Republic of Croatia, the so-called EOJN. In addition to Pomgrad, a bid was also received from the Dubrovnik-based company Texo Molior. The decision to select the contractor marked the biggest step towards continuing the work since March of this year. At that time, the contract with the consortium of bidders Aqua Mont Service Serbia and Aqua Mont Service Croatia was terminated due to months of delays.
But before the machines can re-enter the construction site in Žrnovska Banja, it is necessary to wait for the legal deadline for any appeals. If there are none or they are rejected, the contract will be signed, the contractor will be introduced to the work, and construction of the port will continue, which will completely change the traffic dynamics of the eastern part of the island.
The decision to select the contractor was made a few days after the Government of the Republic of Croatia approved an additional 5.3 million euros for the New Port of Korčula project. This money is not intended to expand the project. It is intended to cover the difference caused by the large increase in the prices of construction materials, equipment and works compared to 2022, when the first contract was signed.
At the same Government session, funds were also approved for other port authorities in other Dalmatian counties. The reason is the same, an increase in the amount of grants so that projects could be completed without jeopardizing the financial structure. In other words, the state provided the money at the very moment when the Korčula Port Authority was finalizing a new public procurement procedure.
New port of Korcula
The idea of building the New Port of Korčula has existed since the establishment of the County Port Authority in 2007. The director of the Korčula County Port Authority, Ante Tvrdeić, has been working intensively on the preparation of the project since 2015. 2024. More than 32 million euros have been secured for the port through European funds and the state budget.
If the decision to select Pomgrad becomes final, Korčula will once again have an active construction site in Polačište after more than a year of standstill. As we learn, there is just over 50 percent of the work remaining until the port is completed.
This will be the beginning of a new phase of the project which, when completed, will solve long-standing problems with ferry and passenger traffic and become one of the largest infrastructure investments ever realized in the history of the island of Korčula.
