City of Supetar

[SupetarParticipant]

A brief introduction to the city of Supetar
Split-Dalmatia County is the central-southern Dalmatian county in Croatia. The administrative center is Split, while the island of Brač is a distinctly central island within County and has the best transport links with the mainland .The county is linked to the rest of Croatia by the newly built four-lane Split-Zadar-Karlovac-Zagreb highway and the Lika railway. Split-Kaštela international airport is used mostly by tourist charter flights in the summer. The island of Brac has its own smaller airport which is only 20 kilometers away from Supetar. This airport is currently reorganizing its operations and there will be established weekly flights to Zagreb, as well as direct flights to several European destinations.
The company “Jadrolinija”, for transportation of passengers and vehicles via sea, has a timetable that allows regular connection with Split and sails about 15 times a day. Supetar is, accordingly, the main port of the island.
The City of Supetar includes the town Supetar and the three villages Splitska, Škrip and Mirca and with a population of 3,213 it is the island’s largest and fastest-expanding town. Mirca is inhabited by 321 people while in Škrip are living 172 inhabitants. Splitska has 368 inhabitants. All the villages are beautiful and contain many features that contribute to their individuality and uniqueness. One of the main advantages of our City is this unity, which is again reflected through all four settlements and their own specific features that distinguish them from other places followed by various opportunities for development.
Old Supetar was situated on the small peninsula where there is now a graveyard. The settlement came to an end during the early Christian era. The present settlement of Supetar was founded in the 16th century when people living in Nerežišća, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) inland, began to use it as their harbor. The town’s main period of development occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries when Supetar took over from Nerežišća as the administrative centre of the island. By its historical tradition, administrative function and all other crucial relations, and above all, its urban planning- Supetar has continued to be and remains to be central and leading place on the island.
The significance and particularities of the geographical position of Supetar are reflected in:
• The city is placed in the urban area, is treated as a small town and an area of expansion in the immigration with excellent living conditions.
• The city is the most important as the administrative centre of the island and its economic development offers employment opportunities.
• Harbor of Supetar is considered as port of county importance which contributes to maritime exposure and has excellent transport connections (sea route and airport “Brac” 3C category) with the mainland, and the whole of Europe.
• Supetar is a tourist center of regional importance and the area is a potential tourist locations “A”, “B” and “D” grade
The most specific development values and resources in the City which should be considered are:
• preserved seashore and sea – coast (northern) part of the City;
• particularly valuable areas of nature / landscapes;
• monuments of architectural heritage – the core of the village and individual cultural goods;
• Other resources: uncontaminated agricultural soil, preserved cultivated landscape and forest reserves of building stone (an architectural and technical) with the potential of the sun and wind as alternative sources of energy.

Strategic planning

From the beginning of its mandate Mayor of Supetar has initiated the process of strategic planning and development of the number of strategic documents, which would enable and support a further development of the city. The planned strategic documents are “Strategy of development of the city until 2020.” and the “Tourism Development Strategy until 2020” Considering the overall level of the island, through the work of Local Action Group (LAG) it is launched a process of drafting the document that refers to a strategy for the further development of the island. All documents are currently being prepared and will be adopted by the end of 2015.
Although these documents in preparation, work is in progress and there where established a whole series of projects. These projects can be divided into several groups:
a) Environmental projects (mitigating results of decade-long neglect and under-investment, requiring extremely costly measures):
– sanation of utility waste dumpsite in Kupinovica, which took several years of preparation and is starting now;
– preparing documents for planned construction of the City’s central waste water treatment plant is under way
– together with Croatian Government, Fund for Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency, the City started with implementation of several environmental educational projects. It was also successfully implemented the project of energy efficiency on the public lighting.
b) Investing into mobility and the City’s infrastructure
– Considering our streets and access to the beach, special attention is being given to mobility requirements of persons with special needs.
– Important investments are done into development of supporting infrastructure in the area of the planned business zone ” Žedno –Drage” in the town of Supetar. At the same time, the area of this zone is considered under the feasibility study and its further development will be carefully planned. Business zone is relatively large and has so far gathered mainly small businesses whose main activities are related to trade. Preferences for this zone would be to initiate more of projects focused on the organic production and processing, as well as use of this site with its good connectivity for import and export.
– Systematic reconstruction of city’s infrastructure is being permanently conducted and it will continue to be one- going process.
c) Culture, education and sports
-A series of projects have significantly advanced the conditions for the development of culture as one of the major activities in City.
d) Upgrading the identity of the City
-Significant investments have been made in this area. Apart from partial improving of conditions and reconstructing the historical center in Škrip, the City has been systematically investing into preservation and marking the areas in the all villages and its rural and urban areas.
-One of the largest projects is currently underway will be focus onplanning and implementing of the reconstruction on previously neglected areas of Trolokve(near Supetar) into an important natural park.
-Systematic investments have also been made into the city’s parks and green areas. Brač is the first island with a white flags, sign for the clean sea and our City proudly owns them.
e) Local self-administration
Advancing local self-administration is one of the City’s strategic priorities, aiming at increased citizens’ participation in processes of development of the City. Process is transparent and our administration unit – together with citizens decide on priorities for reconstruction of utilities, streets, parks, as well as various facilities for citizens’ use.
f) City projects
City projects are a special tool for the City’s reproduction. Accordingly City starts a new direction in the development of the city, considering the values that owns. One of the city’s values could be viewed through the real estate that is currently neglected, but with trough the new purposes these buildings could be restored and made functional. This is definitely an area for the development, the restoration of property with combination ofcrafts and tourism could open a new job opportunities.
At present, the economic focus of our City will be to strength its economic structure into a city dominated by the service sector and an emphasis on the development of the Supetar’s traffic route and rural/urban tourism, alreadyvisible all around us. The planned investment projects will range from those relating to traffic infrastructure (for example establishing a smaller nautical port in the centre of Supetar) to entrepreneurial, cultural and entertainment projects. The main idea is to offer both citizens and possible investors and visitors a new quality of life, as well as a chance for new entrepreneurial activities. Aiming to further transform of our City, enhance the quality of urban space, create new recognizable city ambiences and space for the development of economic activities, the investment cycle will continue with the realization of new projects of traffic and utility infrastructure and the construction of new facilities intended for sports activities and culture.
The possibilities of investing in the City of Supetar are in the field of infrastructure, environmental protection, small and medium business, tourism and cultural projects and renewable sources of energy. Our forces are into existing crafts (small businesses) and farms with numerous local products specific to our area and into developed tourism which needs to be upgraded with additional content and activities. The City is annually visited by over 60 thousand people, while some of our local products are labeled as Croatian island product, the mark of Croatian government which helps to islanders in the promotion and marketing of indigenous products and the preservation of tradition.
In 2013 Croatia became a fully-fledged member of the European Union, which opened up new possibilities for the next development phase of programs developed by the European Union. Relatively new in this field, City of Supetar would like to be part of projects that promotes cultural and inter-institutional cooperation opens new employment opportunities and impacts economic development and cultural exchange among EU members.
Our City is looking for public authorities to be involved in a MED project proposal focused on the Priority Axis 2 and 3.
More info on : http://www.gradsupetar.hr/
Contacts:
Tonči Sanader
Tel: +38521677393
Mob: +385981642756
Mail: tonci.sanader@gradsupetar.hr

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