The deadline for signing the contract with the American company “AAFS Infrastructure & Energy” on the construction of the South Interconnection gas pipeline, which would connect BiH and Croatia, has already expired, and every day the situation regarding this project is getting more complicated.
The deadline for signing the contract has expired
As a reminder, the Law on the Gas Pipeline South Interconnection BiH – Republic of Croatia stipulates that the investor in that project will be the company “AAFS Infrastructure & Energy” and that a contract will be signed with them within 30 days. The law was adopted in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament on April 8, and in the House of Peoples on April 15.
Therefore, the deadline for signing the contract expired at the beginning of this month.
“The rights and obligations of the contracting parties in connection with the implementation of the projects referred to in paragraph (1) of this article shall be regulated by the Agreement that the Investor and the FBiH Government will conclude within 30 days from the date of entry into force of this law,” reads the Law on the Gas Pipeline South Interconnection of BiH – Republic of Croatia.
The biggest problem
As expected, the biggest problem is the unresolved issue of “state property”, and this was practically confirmed at the recently held meeting in the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, unofficial information also says that some government structures are not interested in giving that project to a foreign investor “for a good look” and it is certain that they will try to, if they really have to give that project, get something in return, first of all in the political sense.
“We are waiting for the problem to be solved so that we can implement the project. There is certainly a significant part of the property, parcels of land that are state property, through the route of the Southern Interconnection part of the gas pipeline. And without this, it cannot be solved. But we are not waiting for that. The feasibility study is being done, the members of the contract are being harmonized and I hope that we will solve everything synergistically,” said Vedran Lakić, Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry of the Federation of BiH.
Signing the pre-contract
During the meeting held in the FBiH Parliament at the end of last week, which was attended by representatives of the FBiH Government, investors and MPs, there was also talk of signing the preliminary contract, and then at a later stage, when the issue of “state property” is resolved, to sign an annex or amendment.
However, that was allegedly abandoned, because practically all the MPs who attended the meeting demanded that the issue of “state property” must be resolved, otherwise nothing would come of the project.
“It is worrisome that, as far as I could tell, we are waiting for a high representative who will solve this issue of ‘state property’ regardless of the interests of the citizens,” said Mirsad Zaimović, SDA deputy in the FBiH Parliament.
Solving the biggest issue
His colleague from the DF, Mahir Mešalić, said that the minister was asked not to sign any contract until the issue of “state property” is resolved, so the implementation of the Southern Interconnection project will await the resolution of the biggest issue in BiH, which has been discussed for more than 20 years and is still unresolved.
The position of the Republic of Srpska
As for “state property”, the Republika Srpska does not even recognize that term, stressing that “state property” as such does not exist at all.
On several occasions, the officials of the Republika Srpska said that BiH does not have any property and that it belongs to the entities, and that possibly this “state property” can only be what the Federation of BiH and the Republika Srpska agree on. They also pointed out that it is not disputed that Bosnia and Herzegovina has property necessary for its functioning, such as some buildings where institutions are located, but nothing more than that. On the other hand, in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they believe that all assets such as forests, water, natural resources, etc. belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Apart from the issue of “state property”, BiH has not yet ratified the agreement between BiH and Croatia on the construction of the gas pipeline, which was signed at the beginning of May by Borjana Krišto, the chairperson of the Council of Ministers of BiH, and Andrej Plenković, the Prime Minister of Croatia. After that signing in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, some officials openly called for the agreement not to be ratified
Southern Interconnection Project
When it comes to the gas pipeline itself, the Southern Interconnection project involves the construction of a new route for gas inflow and the diversification of the supply route. This gas pipeline goes from the direction of Zagvozd in Croatia, and in BiH it enters near Posušje and continues to Tomislavgrad – Šuica – Kupres – Bugojno – Novi Travnik and in the direction of Posušje – Gruda – Široki Brijeg – Mostar with branches to Livno, Gornji Vakuf, Donji Vakuf and Jajce and a branch to Čapljina and an additional direction Kladanj – Tuzla.
In addition to the gas pipeline, the plan is to build gas power plants, considering that the capacity of the gas pipeline itself far exceeds gas consumption in Bosnia and Herzegovina, they write. Independent newspaper.
