The Ministry of Transport has classified a contract worth more than 40 million BAM for the reconstruction of tram rails in Sarajevo with a Chinese company linked to a series of accidents in previous projects that injured or killed workers, according to a study by the Balkan Research Network of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIRN BiH).
It is important to mention that the Sarajevo Cantonal Ministry of Transport has rejected several requests from BIRN BiH over the past few months to submit documentation on a multimillion-dollar rail reconstruction project in the capital city and did not answer questions about whether they were aware of the history of accidents and delays in the work of the Chinese corporation whose membership is the firm to which the tender has been awarded, Klix.ba writes.
The Minister of Transport of the Canton Sarajevo (CS), Adnan Steta, did not respond to the request to submit a decision declaring the contract secret, thus violating the 15-day deadline from the Law on Free Access to Information.
BIRN BiH was provided with a part of the tender documentation from which the conditions for obtaining the tender can be seen, but the Ministry of Transport treats secret information related to the content of the Chinese consortium’s offer, agreed deadlines and prices, and other important information about one of the largest infrastructure projects currently underway in Sarajevo.
History of omissions and lawsuits
In June 2021, the Government of CS awarded a contract worth 20.4 million euros to a consortium of Chinese companies – “China Shandong International Economic and Technical Cooperation Group” (Shandong) and “China Railway No.10 Engineering Group Co.” (CREC 10).
Namely, the last company is a member of the “China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC)” family. BIRN BiH can now confirm that this Chinese corporation is linked to a series of accidents that resulted in injuries or deaths to workers.
Hiding the contract in Sarajevo
The Minister of Transport of the CS Adnan Steta did not agree to several requests from BIRN BiH over the past few months to discuss the terms of the tender. In a written response from the Ministry, they stated that they were familiar with the history of the companies that submitted bids “to the extent that the bidders were required to present historical data in the tender documents.”
According to the tender documents and the conditions for obtaining the tender submitted to BIRN BiH, the company’s past is listed as criteria in the section on non-compliance with previous contracts. It states that the company must provide confirmation that they have not had a “continuous history of litigation” or lost arbitration from 2015 to 2019.
Citing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), whose loan was used to pay for the reconstruction of the tram line, and the claim that the Bank does not allow them to open contracts, the CS Government and the Ministry of Transport refused to give the contract to BIRN BiH. In one of the responses to the requests sent from January 2022, the Ministry stated that the data from the contract are confidential and cannot be shared.
It is not possible to follow all the deadlines mentioned by Forto and Steta because the public is not provided with insights into the documents in which they are defined. This type of non-transparency makes it difficult for journalists and watchdog organizations to monitor possible irregularities.
E.Dz.
