Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Edin Forto spoke with representatives of the BiH Air Navigation Services Agency (BHANSA) union about the consequences of the arbitration ruling in the “Viaduct” case.
“Due to the arbitration ruling in favor of the foreign company, BiH is facing serious consequences in the area of air traffic control. BHANSA has found itself in a position of collateral damage, and if a temporary solution is not found urgently, the crisis could double,” said Edin Forto, Minister of Communications and Transport of BiH.
“Regaining control of the airspace could take years, and we may never get it back. This risk is enormous. There is also a risk for all four of our airports that they could completely lose the ability to operate flights for a certain period. That is why I insisted at the Council of Ministers that, in addition to resolving this ruling through an intervention in the BiH budget – keeping in mind that this is a political process that can take months – and so that we don’t jeopardize the operations of such an important agency, someone be tasked to prepare a decision. I believe it would be natural for the Ministry of Finance to make this decision, but the Council of Ministers decided to task me with preparing the decision for temporary financing of BHANSA,” stated Forto.
In order to bridge BHANSA’s urgent needs and avoid the complete collapse of the system, a decision has been prepared which is currently in draft form and should be considered at the session on Tuesday. If it is adopted and sufficient funds are secured, the fire in BHANSA’s functioning could be temporarily extinguished, it was explained.
Vinko Malnar, president of the Air Traffic Controllers’ Union of BiH, also spoke at the press conference as a participant in yesterday’s meeting and said that air traffic controllers are currently in a situation where they are dealing with politics, which is unnatural for the nature of their work.
“We are talking about solving a problem that we did not cause. We take care that when you fly, we make sure you arrive at your destination on time and safely. I want to emphasize for who knows which time that BHANSA is a self-financing agency, which brings in 85 million BAM annually and pays 20 million to the entities in the name of various contributions. I agree with the minister that the issue of the payout should not be linked to the normal functioning of BHANSA. Thank you to the minister for preparing the decision, we see light at the end of the tunnel and the end of the agony called BHANSA financing is in sight. Currently, the funds are blocked and that is something I, as an air traffic controller, do not want to deal with,” said Malnar.
Responding to journalists’ questions, Minister Forto stated that he has no information about a possible investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office in the “Viaduct” case, but that he has in recent days spoken with colleagues about who should file a criminal complaint against those responsible for the enormous damage to BiH – not only to the budget, but also in terms of reputational harm due to the potential loss of airspace control capacity.
Forto is absolutely in favor of initiating criminal responsibility in this case, he concluded.
