The Gradiška border crossing, temporarily opened, recorded intense traffic yesterday, but without significant delays, confirmed the head of the Gradiška Customs Office, Radovan Đurić.
“This is currently the most frequent border crossing in Bosnia and Herzegovina and our country’s gateway to the European Union,” said Đurić in an interview with ATVnoting that the new crossing has significantly more entry and exit lanes than the old one.
According to him, in the last 24 hours, 2,800 people and 1,400 vehicles entered BiH, while 3,000 people and 1,600 vehicles left. Last year, more than four million passengers, more than one and a half million passenger vehicles, and 250,000 trucks and 25,000 buses passed through the old crossing.
According to Đurić, temporary opening of border crossings is not uncommon in emergency situations. “The crossing was already temporarily open in December, but closed because the Management Board of the Directorate for Indirect Taxation of BiH did not adopt the rulebook on the systematization of workplaces. Only when the schedule of workers is enabled, the Ministry of Security can make a decision on opening the crossing,” he explained.
As he said, the situation developed this way because of the needs of citizens from all over the country, because all kinds of goods can be transported through Gradiska and Bijača.
Đurić especially thanked the Croatian customs administration, the inspection services and the Croatian Ministry of Internal Affairs for their quick reaction and correct attitude. “Croatia was more ready than us to accept the opening of the crossing, and from noon, products of plant and animal origin began to pass through Gradiska,” he concluded.
