The new overhaul shipyard for mega and superyachts Adriatic 42 in Bijela is the best thing that has happened in Montenegro lately, Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said.
In the company of the Ministers of Capital Investments, Ervin Ibrahimović, Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism, Ana Novaković Đurović, and Economic Development and Tourism, Goran Đurović, he visited Bijela and familiarized himself with the activities undertaken so far to revitalize the new shipyard.
Abazović was welcomed in Bijela by the CEO of Adriatic Marinas David Margason and the CEO of Drydocks World Dubai and the president of the Board of Directors of Adriatic 42 Rado Antolović.
The prime minister and ministers were presented with a 10.000-ton floating dock that Adriatic 42 recently acquired in Turkey, as well as other activities on the establishment of a new shipyard that should receive these yachts for overhaul already in the fall.
Adriatic 42 has already invested over 40 million euros in that project.
"This is a big day for Montenegro because this floating dock symbolizes the return of shipbuilding in Bijela and in Montenegro, it means the creation of new jobs and prosperity for this region. In this way, we are restarting an industry and an economic sector that was in great decline in the previous period problems. By the end of September, we will have 42 new direct jobs opened at the Adriatic 100 shipyard, and with subcontractors and external collaborators, many more," said Abazović, adding that the greatest interest of the state and the government is to start an investment cycle with serious companies such as Adriatic 42 .
"With the experience and knowledge of Drydocks Workld Dubai and Adroatic Marinas behind that company, I have no doubt that Adriatic 42 will change the image of Montenegro when it comes to nautical and that it will help the whole country to deal with maritime in a more serious way as a segment that is in the previous period, was quite replaced," Abazović pointed out, adding that Adriatic 42 will have the full support of the Government and local communities in Herceg Novi and Tivat, whose mayors Stevan Katić and Željko Komnenović were also in Bijela.
Antolović thanked for the support they received from the Government and all other entities involved in the process of launching the new shipyard.
"Shipbuilding and ship repair in Bijela have a long tradition, incredible strength and energy that has accumulated here over decades. With our shareholders and employees, the vast majority of whom are from Montenegro, we want to open a new stage of development here with the application of the highest environmental and standards protection in this industry. This floating dock of the latest generation can carry out repairs from the sea, lift ships weighing up to 10.000 tons, and no such large yacht has yet been built in the world. This means that cruise ships up to 200 meters long can be docked and repaired on it. while the most important for the first phase of the development of the Adriatic 42 shipyard, there is also a new large travel lift with a capacity of 720 tons that will be installed in another location within the shipyard in two months. Only on this travel lift will we be able to lift yachts up to 50, maybe even 70 meters. We have everything we need to be able to start working, and the most important thing for us are people. Now we have 28 of them, 23 of whom are from Montenegro, and by the end of September we will have 100 full-time employees, and that's just for the beginning of the first phase of shipyard development," said Antolović, adding that their plan is that at the end of the first quarter of 2023, Adriatic 42 will have its 200 full-time employees plus at least three times as many external subcontractors and collaborators.
He pointed out that the state investment fund of Dubai ICD stands behind Adriatic Marinas, as well as that the Government of that country also owns the shipbuilding corporation Drydocks World Dubai.
"In both cases, the owner is the state and the Government of Dubai, which wants to invest in Montenegro, and both of these companies are global leaders in the protection of ecology, human rights and the health of employees. We will do absolutely everything according to Montenegrin laws and the best international rules. be according to the highest ecological standards - there will be no grid as it was here before, there will be solar panels, noise protection and wide application of energy efficiency. All real estate will be registered in the Montenegrin cadastre, floating docks in the Montenegrin Register of Ships, and today we with the mayor of Herceg Novi, we even agreed on what kind of trees we will plant in the so-called buffer zone of the shipyard. And they will be Montenegrin seedlings. The most important thing for us is the local people, because I and from the experience I had with the engineers from Montenegro who worked with us in the shipyard in Dubai, I know you have professional and capable people for this job," Antolović pointed out, adding that the official opening of the first phase of the Adriatic 42 shipyard will take place in October, when the first yacht will be lifted onto the dock for overhaul.
Ibrahimović said that "thanks to the Government of Montenegro and the company Adroatic 42, Montenegro will again be clearly recognized on the global map of shipyards", and that in the next five years at least 300 new jobs will be created in Bijela.
Abazović did not give a concrete answer to the question of when the state will finally fulfill its part of the obligations related to the ecological remediation of the area of the former Adriatic shipyard Bijela, which the French company Valgo has been unable to complete for years. He pointed out that he "thinks that is also resolved" and that Novaković-Đuriović, who, however, did not appear before the journalists, will say more about it.
Ibrahimović said that the rest of the grit and contaminated land from Bijela will be removed "in a very short period of time", to which Antolović followed up by saying that the area of the first phase was cleaned and handed over to Adriatic 42 and that "the Agency for the Protection of Natural Resources has confirmed this and now we are waiting for the document so we can start working".
They improvised a water terminal near Tivat Airport
Abazović and the ministers, accompanied by the heads of the Maritime Dobr Mladen Mikijelj and Blaž Rađenović, and members of the Board of Directors of the Airport of Montenegro Nebojša Đoković and Eldin Dobardžić, visited the location of the temporary water terminal that is being arranged in Kukoljina for the needs of Tivat Airport.
It is about an existing concrete pier to which a smaller floating dock has been added, and the surrounding area will be asphalted and turned into a parking lot.
The idea is that part of the passengers who come to Tivat by plane, and their final destination is hotels in Tivat and other cities of Boka, are transferred from the airport by speedboats and passenger boats, instead of using congested roads.
The Morsko dobro invested about 30.000 euros in cleaning and arranging this location, and that company and ACG will jointly renovate the pier, from which passengers will be able to be picked up only by shippers who have already responded to the Morsko dobro's ad.
To transport passengers from the terminal building of the airport to the pier in Kukoljina, as was heard, the internal road of the airport, which is now used by taxi drivers to access the terminal, will be used, which will avoid the congested Jadranska magistrala.
"The water terminal was the promise of the Prime Minister, and what we are getting now in Kukoljina is not the classic water terminal that Tivat Airport and Montenegro deserve, but a temporary solution that we achieved in record time. Tourists who will land at the airport and then use this terminal for further transfer, I think they will have a completely different and much more beautiful and intensive first experience of Boka and Montenegro and will not wait in long queues on the roads", Abazović said, adding that he hopes that from autumn "they will have a serious operator" who will to organize the terminal in Tivat in an even better way for the next season".
He pointed out that large resorts will probably have a free mooring for their vessels with which they will pick up their guests from the water terminal in Tivat, and when asked by "Vijesti" whether they have the consent of the Civil Aviation Agency for such an improvised solution in the sensitive and protected contact zone of the airport , the Prime Minister said that "there was a dilemma regarding the ACV's position".
"I absolutely support it because they expressed their concern about the proximity of the water terminal to the runway and the airport fence. That, in my opinion, is a professional approach by ACV. However, I think that the project can be completed and operations can be carried out through it without restriction," Abazović said, adding that "safety and security remain a priority so that we do not end up in a situation where aircraft and passengers are endangered."
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