Water ports designed to promote tourism in CzechRep

Prague, July 19 (CTK) - Seven river marinas are to be built on the Czech Labe (Elbe) River in 2012-13 and another 11 are to be added by 2014 within a project that is to promote tourism along the river, daily Hosodarske noviny (HN) writes Thursday.

Inspiration came from Central Bohemian businessman Josef Hajek who took liking to ships and marinas on his trips to various parts of the world, HN writes.

It says he built one of the first marinas on the Labe River in Tynec nad Labem, central Bohemia, where devotees of small boats can make a pause, take something small to eat and drink, and draw new energy.

HN writes that the building of the marina cost some six million crowns.

The paper says the average cost of a Labe marina would be five to eight million crowns.

The Central Bohemia Region likes the idea of Labe marinas and in cooperation with the Labe Golden Band NGO it has marked 53 localities for further marinas, piers and moorings, HN writes.

It says similar marinas are also being built in South Bohemia and in Moravia as well as on the Vltava (Moladu) River.

The water facilities are to be financed by the Directorate of Water Ways (RDC) with EU support, equipment on the banks is to be financed by municipalities, HN writes.

Private capital is also to be involved in the projects.

It says the municipalities hope that th marinas will bring more tourists to the region.

The Labe municipalities say they drew inspiration from the Bata Canal on the Morava River in southern Moravia that the world known shoe-maker had built at the beginning of the 20th century for transport of fuel and material to his factories.

The recent reconstruction and adaptation of the canal has attracted many new visitors (some 50,000 to 70,000 annually) to the region, adjacent villages, chateuas and castles, HN writes.

"It is great that more and more marinas are being built. However, the making of the whole Labe passable is of fundamental importance for water tourism becauase it would also attract foreign tourists, for instance, from Germany," HN quotes RVC director Jan Skalicky as saying.

HN writes that it would cost 5.5 billion crowns to make the river passable at Decin, north Bohemia, where the changeable water level limits shipping.

Another four billion crowns would be required for the permanent adjustment of the river bed and construction of a port in Pardubice, east Bohemia.

If these works were done, tourists could travel from Pardubice to Hamburg, Germany, and vice versa, HN writes.

Labe, one of the longest European water ways, takes its source in the Krkonose (Giant Mountains), east Bohemia. It flows across Bohemia to Germany where it empties into the North Sea.