On Friday, the 26th of February, on the 756th birthday of the City of Bihac, Mayor Emdzad Galijasevic and member of the Presidency of BiH Bakir Izetbegovic, if the protocol activities permit, should set the foundation stone for the construction of the airport in Bihac. This should be the first step in the realization of the project that seemed illusory even for the biggest optimists.
The total investment would cost about 26 million BAM.
After the projects was presented to the Government of FBiH, it was agreed that the city of Bihac will receive 2 million BAM in the upcoming years from the federal budget, to gradually invest in the airport.
“According to the promise of Prime Minister Novalic, we will receive 2 million BAM every year from the tax billing of civilian flights over BiH. After getting the first funds we will start issuing public calls for project documentation and we will first definitely enclose the runway that is 1,200 meters long, and on which can land planes with 72 passengers at the moment,” said Smail Toromanovic, the adviser of the mayor of Bihac.
Entire land is owned by the city, so there should not be barriers regarding the property relations. The conceptual design of the project was created by the company Euroing from Bihac.
Since it is a big investment, the city government is planning to implement financing through public-private partnerships, thus by finding strategic partners.
“I must emphasize that the mayor and the city administration had contacts with several Turkish companies. One of them which is most interested is the Çelebi Holding, which has 15,000 employees and it is present in 31 airport in the European Union. We expect very intensive meetings at the end of the month with this company. There was also interest from the Saudi investment Fund from Dubai, and we had the visit of the delegation from Malaysia as well,” said Toromanovic.
“The project of construction of the airport in Bihac, even for only charter flights, is needed in the region of Una-Sana Canton and it has great importance, both for the local tourism and economy, and it will be a major impulse for their development, as well as for the passengers itself,” added Toromanovic.
(Source: M. C./Klix.ba)
