02.07.2021.
Passenger boat “Mali Brijun” for the Public Institution Brijuni National Park was launched today from the Tehnomont Shipyard in Pula.The catamaran passenger boat is 21.85 meters in length and 9 meters beam, crew capacity 3, passenger capacity 150 (100 seats in the salon, 10 of which are for disabled persons in wheelchairs, and 50 seats on the open/canopied passenger deck area), the structure is aluminium, and propulsion diesel electric. The handing over of the boat is planned in September 2021.
The design and works contract for the passenger boat worth HRK 15.4 million was concluded in 2019 between the Public Institution Brijuni National Park and Tehnomont – Shipyard Pula d.o.o.
The design and building of the new passenger boat for the Brijuni National Park is one of the activities of the project “Brijuni Reinvented”, which is co-financed from the Operational Programme “Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014 – 2020” by the European Regional Development Fund and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. The boat will service the Brijuni archipelago connecting it with the mainland, in particular island Mali Brijun, whose revitalisation is one of the most important activities of the “Brijuni Reinvented” project aimed at improving accessibility and mobility of visitors. The contract for building and tradesmen (specialist) works on the facilities in Mali Brijun is nearing completion, so the island will soon have new accommodation capacities for special programmes such as outdoor education, and science, art, and expert workshops.
The project “Brijuni Reinvented” is co-financed from the Operational Programme “Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014 – 2020” by the European Regional Development Fund and the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. It is one of the projects for national parks and nature parks that was successfully applied to the call for proposals by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds “Promoting sustainable use of natural heritage in national parks and nature parks”, and it has been actively implemented since 2017. The overall value of the project is set at the maximum 41.7 million kunas. Total eligible project costs are HRK 32.1 million, 85% is financed from the European Regional Development Fund, and 5% is provided by the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund.
The general goal of the project “Brijuni Reinvented” is to improve management of the Brijuni National Park that will be based on the principles of sustainable use of the natural heritage with the aim of socioeconomic development of the local community by developing the visitor infrastructure and interesting tourist attractions, and improving the visitors’ knowledge about the importance of the natural heritage.
Important activities that have already been implemented under this project include acquiring and setting up of the new information point in Veliki Brijun with an interactive display showing all Brijuni attractions, purchase of two type-approved tourist trains facilitating sightseeing to people in wheelchairs, organising an open-air cinema, acquisition of films dealing with nature protection and archive footage about Brijuni, developing the Cites application about endangered animal species. There are also activities like: education of personnel, preparing hydrogeological studies, visitor management study, and contracts that are currently being implemented, such as developing materials on the Brijuni heritage that will provide quality base documents for directing the future development of the archipelago, and a more contemporary presentation of the natural and cultural heritage. The contracts also cover building-tradesmen, and conservation-restoration works on Veliki Brijun that will help makeover and restore the Živa voda memorial and the Compressor Station.
