Revenues from toll collection in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) this year will certainly be higher than the previous year.
As they explained from Public Utility (JP) “Autoceste FBiH”, in 2021, revenues in the amount of 44,712,090.26 BAM, including VAT, were generated.
When it comes to the revenues generated for the first seven months of this year, they amount to 27,723,797.60 BAM and it is already clear that 2022 could surpass last year.
Economic analyst Faruk Hadzic tells that the tolls collected at the tollbooths are part of the regular income of the companies that provide services on the highways and that, accordingly, they distribute it to finance various expenses.
But, according to Hadzic, thanks to the income from other tolls, that cost would be citizens could be symbolic on an annual level by purchasing a vignette.
“Autoceste FBiH”, but also “Autoceste Republika Srpska (RS)“, receive a significant amount of financial resources based on other fuel tolls. This money has been included in their income in recent years and, at least for now, according to the financial reports, it has not been spent to such an extent, which in principle leaves one possibility that “Autoceste FBiH” and “Autoceste RS” can abolish the collection of tolls at toll booths and that in no case will it jeopardize their financial operations,” believes Hadzic.
The companies would still have large revenues, which means that they can practically provide the citizens of BiH with the service of free driving on highways.
”If one wants to solve this issue in some symbolic way, to say, here, ok, you pay something, there is a possibility that citizens in BiH may be charged a symbolic vignette of 10 or 20 BAM per year during registration, and in that way residents in BiH has almost free use of highways,” noted Hadzic.
Hadzic added that vignettes could be sold at border crossings for foreign citizens, which would bring additional income to “Autoceste FBiH” and “Autoceste RS”.
