Belgrade gets aqua park - Obrenovac builds tourist complex at entrance to municipality with or without investors

(preliminary design for the aqua park in Obrenovac)

It is more and more likely that another aqua park will be soon built in Serbia. As eKapija wrote earlier, the borough of Obrenovac may be the next to offer its citizens water-fun attractions as a salvation from summer heat.

Representatives of Poland's Mazur and Belgrade-based Alex Company presented last weekend a preliminary design for the potential aqua park in this town, the construction of which may kick off as early as next year on a site behind Obrenovac hotel, at the very entrance to the borough.

As Obrenovac Mayor Miroslav Cuckovic explained, representatives of the Polish company, which drew the preliminary design for the potential aqua park, visited the space behind the hotel in July and got familiar with the possible future location of the park.

It is a company that has been engaged in the construction of aqua parks for years now, and it is also known to the domestic public for its work on the aqua park in Backi Petrovac. Mazur operates in 17 countries, including Serbia, where it maintains a successful cooperation with Belgrade-based Alex Company, which is hired as a consultant for this project.

As Ivan Vujic from the borough of Obrenovac told eKapija, a call for bids to draw a final design for the aqua park in Obrenovac should be launched by the year's end.

Rich offer

Vujic also said that the aqua park should be built on an area spanning about 5 hectares.

- It would include 12 different water attractions, a special area for children, labyrinths and high-speed water slides for adults, and it would also be merged with the existing swimming pool complex in Obrenovac.

What would make it different from other similar aqua parks are certain structures that could be used by a large number of people at the same time, such as a swimming pool with waves that could accommodate 70 people or a swimming pool with a balloon serving as a soft slide that could be used by about hundred people at once.

Such water park is expected to be visited by between 5,000 and 7,000 people a day.

The site where it is supposed to be built features a well with thermal water, which is why a new spa is under construction in that part of the borough and is expected to be fully finished very soon. With the construction of an aqua park, the offer of the Obrenovac borough would be made complete.

Thermal water from this spring could also be used to heat water in future swimming pools. In that way, this aqua park may earn the epithet 'ecological,' as it was already announced earlier by Miroslav Cuckovic.

Vujic noted that despite the possibility of filling swimming pools with thermal water, nearby public showers and sports courts would remain in the same place, so that the citizens of Obrenovac would still be able to use the thermal water completely free of charge.

Investment of up to EUR 3 million

Last weekend's presentation of the preliminary design is only the first step in the possible construction of an aqua park in Obrenovac. For further implementation, it is necessary to secure urban designs and launch a call for bids.

- We have made a decision to carry out works on a tourist complex at the entrance to the town, and I am happy with the survey results and the estimated value of this project because we can earmark funds for that purpose in the budgets of the Obrenovac borough and the City of Belgrade, meaning that we can commence construction even without a direct private investor - Miroslav Cuckovic, mayor of Obrenovac, said in a release published on the town website.

- The project is to be co-financed by the city borough of Obrenovac, City of Belgrade and the Ministry of Tourism. It is also expected that large companies will join the construction of this complex, as well as that its construction will be made possible through a strategic partnership.

As Ivan Vujic explained to eKapija, a call for bids to draw a final design should be launched by the year's end, while the construction of this aqua park is expected to cost between 2 and 3 million euros.

He also said that the construction of this complex could kick off as early as 2013, upon the adoption of the municipal budget and the launch of an international call for bids. According to the words of the representatives of Mazur and Alex Company, such water park could be finished in six months.

I.B.