“Water secrets” – Rastoke in its new edition in a year and a half

The HRK 23 million EU project “Water secrets” encompasses a series of activities aimed at preserving the natural heritage of the town of Slunj

22.02.2019

22.02.2019

The natural pearl of Slunj – Rastoke in the next year and a half will shine in a new, even more beautiful light. Namely, the town of Slunj, in partnership with the local tourist community and the public institution “Natura Viva”, has prepared a project called “Water secrets”. He was nominated for the European Union competition entitled “promoting sustainable development of natural heritage” and was approved last year. It is co-financed by the European Union funds from the Regional Development Fund and has a value of approximately HRK 23 million, 85% of which is co-financing eligible expenditures. The remaining 15% of the funds were additionally nominated for the Fund for Co-financing and implementation of EU programmes and projects at the Ministry of Regional Development and were also allocated for this part. This minimizes the financial participation of the town of Slunj.

- The project is very important for the town of Slunj, but also for the area of Karlovac County. It includes a series of activities aimed at contributing to the preservation of the natural heritage of the town of Slunj, in this case a significant landscape of Slunjčica managed by our partner in the project Natura Viva public institution, says project manager Viktor Smolić and specifies what will be done.

- This is the reconstruction of the St. Ivan bridge in Rastoke, the construction of an info center in Rastoke, the construction of a new bridge and a wooden pedestrian bridge and a new promenade in Rastoke where we get a rounded movement and develop an additional tourist offer. We also want to take care of the natural heritage through the project, so that other ways of sustainably managing this area and keeping it in a tourist function will be developed.

In addition, the research station of the public institution Natura Viva would be further reconstructed.

- We would equip it, capacitate it and further employ a number of people who would work on this new tourist offer, such as various training courses for different target groups. We would also make an interesting offer, i.e. free internet covering the entire project area. This is the basic structure necessary for other media using the internet that is related to the tourist offer to be successfully implemented throughout the area, Smolić said and optimistic about the completion of the “Water secrets” project claims.

- The entire implementation of the project, i.e. all activities that will contribute to our goal, contribute to the sustainable development of the natural heritage of the town of Slunj with quality management of all these resources that are in the area of the important landscape of Slunjčica, is set for August 2020. We believe that we will succeed in this.

Source: karlovacki.hr