Seven years after the foundation stone for the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway was laid, excavators in Serbia are working at full speed, while on the Bosnian side the project is once again mired in politics. The biggest dispute is being fought in the Brčko District of Bosnia and Herzegovina, over the route that has become a new political battleground.
Serbia is building, Bosnia and Herzegovina is late
The construction of the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway in Serbia is proceeding according to plan. The Kuzmin-Sremska Rača section, together with the new bridge over the Sava River, is in its final stages. On the Bosnian side, as usual, there is a standstill. Politics is once again the main topic, and has been for almost three and a half years in Brčko, where the route through the District has been disputed. But it seems that there is finally some dialogue.
“I think we have an agreement on the highway routes that should connect Banja Luka and Sarajevo with Belgrade, and that is the most important thing. Highways are important for the economy and the citizens of Brcko, but at the same time they are a political message that Brcko is not and must not be an obstacle to the implementation of important infrastructure projects that are important for the entities,” says Siniša Milić, Mayor of the Brcko District of BiH.
Obstructions and political deadlocks
Although a final agreement was reached in September 2022 regarding the route through Brcko, obstructions and the demolition of that proposal followed at the Government session. True, by certain Government representatives. Since then, the conceptual design, parceling and expropriation have been on hold.
“If we want to act quickly, the most correct thing is to put the proposal that was rejected in May 2023, at the Government session, back on the agenda, adopt it and start preparations operationally, i.e. the parceling plan, the expropriation plan and the conceptual designs,” says Esed Kadrić, the Chief Coordinator of the Government of the Brčko District of BiH.
Different political positions
While some obstruct, others offer solutions, and still others stick to the previously agreed proposal.
“I think that nothing special will happen here, that it will be exactly the corridor that was originally accepted, that it will be fully respected and that the highway will run along that corridor,” adds Ivo Filipović, Vice President of the Brčko District Assembly of BiH.
A project trapped in politics
Although politicians in BiH often emphasize that actions are more important than words, the example of the Belgrade-Sarajevo highway shows the opposite – results still lag behind promises. Brčko is the most striking example, because almost all relevant political parties participate in the government. The paradox of the BiH The political scene is reflected precisely in this project, where common interest declaratively exists, but in practice it is still overshadowed by political disagreements, Federalna writes.
