Urban planning project for construction of marina in Bezdan presented – Serbian Danube gate to get port for vessels with two anchors

The Department of Spatial and Urban Planning and Civil Engineering of the Sombor City Administration has invited citizens and legal entities to a public presentation of the urban project for the needs of urban and architectural development of the location for the construction of a marina near Bezdan.

This is an attempt for Bezdan to use the potential that it undoubtedly possesses in the field of nautical tourism, and to provide the planning documents necessary for inclusion in the state project “Sail Serbia.”

The document was prepared by the company Saputnik-M d. o. o. Sombor, Meridijanprojekt – urbanisticko i prostorno planiranje, Sombor branch, and as announced, oral comments and suggestions will not be recorded, while written comments and suggestions submitted during the public presentation will be considered by the competent Commission for Expert Control of the Urban Project.

This planning document was preceded by the proclamation of the port area and the adoption of the amendment to the general regulation plan of Bezdan last September. Bezdan, as the Serbian gateway to the Danube, is located at the intersection of the Bajski and Veliki Backi canals, and in the immediate vicinity of the lock on the Danube.

In addition to the main facility for about 120 vessels, the construction of a workshop, a sanitary facility, a fuel supply station and a guardhouse is planned in the coastal area of the marina.

The two cadastral plots on which the construction of a marina for small vessels of the two-anchor category is planned are located on the Kendjija stretch, i.e. between the Bezdan Shipyard and the lock on the Bajski Canal. The land along the Veliki Backi Canal, where the marina is planned to be built, is managed by the public water management enterprise Vode Vojvodina.

In addition to the main multifunctional facility, which will be a safe harbor for about 120 vessels, the construction of a workshop, a sanitary facility, a fuel supply station and a guardhouse office is planned in the coastal area of the marina.

The same project, “Sail Serbia,” envisages that Apatin will finally get a suitable port for larger tourist ships, cruisers, and according to statements made by the competent authorities in the Ministry of Tourism at the time, the construction of an international passenger port in Banostor has also been contracted - also on the Danube, in the municipality of Beocin - along with the construction of facilities for nautical tourism in the Lower Danube Area.

– The state will fully bear the costs of construction on the territory of Bezdan, while the local government in Sombor will prepare the project documentation. Then, in two years, we will build a completely new marina, which will, in fact, be the entrance to Serbia from the Danube side. This is a great development opportunity and we will certainly take advantage of it – the State Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism and Youth, Uros Kandic, explained in October 2024, while on the same occasion, representatives of the Sombor local government emphasized that all other settlements would be included in such and similar projects, so that in the coming years even more content would be realized on the Veliki Backi Canal.

Forgotten barges

Although it has excellent conditions for nautical tourism, Bezdan has not had much luck in trying to exploit its advantages. At the beginning of this century, the local government bought two scrapped barges for 40,000 euros in order to build a facility on the Danube, near the monument to the Battle of Batina, to accommodate tourist cruise ships, whose passengers would be transported by bus to Sombor for sightseeing. Years passed, the barges rotted, the story of the pier was somewhat revived in every election cycle, and in the media silence a few years ago, further ruined by neglect, the barges simply disappeared from the banks of the river, after being sold as scrap metal.

Saputnik M doo Sombor

Grad Sombor

JVP Vode Vojvodine Novi Sad

Saputnik M doo Sombor

Meridijanprojekt urbanističko i prostorno planiranje ogranak Sombor

City of Sombor

JVP Vode Vojvodine

Uroš Kandić

Sail Serbia

construction of marina for small vessels near Bezdan

preparation of technical documentation for marina near Bezdan

marina Bezdan