Today, the production furnaces in the bankrupt Koksara in Lukavac are officially being shut down, and according to the authorities, all preparations have been completed to ensure that the shutdown is done safely for the environment.
There was no strategic partner for the continuation of production. The workers were promised that their debts would be paid, but five hundred of them remain out of work, and are indignant at the failure of this great industrial enterprise.
Ermin Halilović has finished, he says, his last shift in Lukavac’s Koksara. Only those workers who will shut down production will remain in the factory for a few more days.
“I also worked the third shift last night and I was told that I am no longer coming to work. So, only those workers who will start the shutdown will remain. About a hundred and a little stronger”, says Halilović, president of the bankrupt Coking Union, for FTV.
All entrances to the factory will be blocked, and all other security measures will be taken in the immediate vicinity of Koksara. All preparations for the shutdown process have been successfully completed.
“Today we have everything under control. We also have the workforce, we have the resources, we have the material and technical conditions secured. And here, together with our professional service and the city of Lukavac, we have taken a number of other preventive measures that will help us to ultimately implement this in the best possible way,” explains Almir Bajrić, bankruptcy administrator of Koksar in bankruptcy.
“I hope that everything will be as it should be. Unfortunately, we are aware of that, here, the workers responded, they saw that it was the end, at least it should be extinguished with dignity,” adds Halilović.
And the sale of Koksara in bankruptcy as a legal entity and all its assets has already been announced. The estimated value of the entire property as a whole is around 200 million marks. The best prospect for monetizing the property is the sale of individual parts of the factory.
“If someone were to offer 200 million now, the creditors would be settled in percentage terms according to the law. We have a situation where the workers are in a higher payment order and priority. I think that the workers are maximally protected in this procedure, bearing in mind the size of the property,” emphasizes Bajrić.
“We are outraged at the whole situation. At the Canton Government, at the Government of the Federation. If it was in their interest – they would have found a solution. Today is us, tomorrow is the Zenica Railway Station, the day after tomorrow is the Federation Railways. Everyone will feel it. The economy of TK will very quickly feel the cessation of GIKIL’s work,” said Halilović.
The closure of Lukavac Koksara will close around 800 jobs. Regardless of the numerous appeals of the workers and the branch union – Koksara was not saved. All levels of government in BiH did nothing concrete to save one of the largest industrial giants in the Federation.
