The Ministry of Environment and Tourism of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has recently issued an environmental permit to the Public Company Airport in Bihac, which gave another contribution to the realization of this project, and now it is time for new steps.
Adnan Bajric, director of the company, pointed out that this is a long-awaited document that allows to move to the next phases when it comes to the construction of the airport, which is the completion of the runway and the construction of the control tower and other accompanying facilities, Nezavisne Novine reports.
”This project for Una-Sana Canton is of great importance when it comes to communication. The airport also has a significant economic aspect and can be the engine of development of Bihac and the entire canton,” said Bajric.
According to him, the realization of the project has continued in recent months, but at a significantly slower pace due to the situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Thus, instead of the planned 2.5 million BAM, only 300,000 BAM were paid from the federal budget, and the payment of the remaining funds is extremely uncertain, which will be reflected in the works that are planned to be done during this year.
In the meantime, an access road was built that connects the airport with the surrounding roads, and after the tests of the carrying capacity of the runway, the construction continued.
When it comes to the entire project, the biggest problem lies in its financing, given that over 90% of the funds spent so far from the FBiH budget. Therefore, it was proposed that the construction of the airport be transferred from the domain of local community competence to the federal level and that the entire project be declared a federal interest.
Among the proposed financing modalities is finding investors from abroad or realization through public-private partnership. According to rough estimates, the entire investment would cost around 100 million BAM, and if the current pace and investments continue, it would take another 30 years for the airport to be completed.
