Hot summer, hot asphalt, hot demands, from the Association of Employers of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH)to the federal authorities. They are asking for a 20 to 25 percent reduction in the price of a fee for a highway. They were motivated, as they said, because of a negative audit financial report of Public Utility Autoceste Federacije. Although they were not surprised by the negative reports, they want to warn the authorities once again, but also the citizens and businessmen that we are paying the highest price of the toll in Europe.
“As in many other things, poor BiH, its citizens, and businessmen pay much higher fees for the use of highways than in other countries. We do not have even 100 kilometers of highways in the FBiH, and at the level of BiH we have a little over 207 km of highways,” told Mladen Pandurevic, director of the Association of Employers of FBiH.
It sounds unreal that even though we have the least built km of highways, we pay the most expensive toll in Europe. Thus, in FBiH, depending on the category of vehicle, we will set aside 15.35 or 50 pfennigs per km traveled. We must not forget that there is also a law on excises in BiH, so in addition to tolls, we will set aside money for excises on petroleum products. When we register the vehicle, we have to pay the toll there as well, depending on the power of our vehicle.
This means that revenues from tolls flow into the budget cash boxes from several sides. And it wouldn’t be a shame if we had more km of highways. This issue does not recognize entity borders. Those whose job it is to be on the road and behind the wheel know best how much money is needed. They say that for 100 km of highway in Republika Srpska (RS), it is necessary to pay 50 BAM for freight traffic.
“Not that it is expensive, but it is too dark and too expensive, because if we take into account that Germany has 13 thousand km of highways and that it is 70 percent cheaper per kilometer than roads in BiH, then it is not clear why they made such prices, ” said Nikola Grbic, president of the RS Transport Association.
By comparison, these are toll prices in the region and the European Union (EU). Because of this arrogance of the authorities and non-solidarity with businessmen and citizens, as a result of such prices, we have to avoid and bypass highways, whether it is freight or passenger traffic. People from the Public Utility Autoceste Federacije do not agree with these allegationsand noted that when it comes to reducing prices, it is decided by the Government of the FBiH. The Federal Ministry of Transport and Communications told that they could not give an answer because it was a period of vacation.
”The price per kilometer is approximately 0.11 BAM/km with VAT and as such is one of the lowest in the region. It is important to mention that in the past years, tolls have risen several times in the countries of the region, which is not the case here. Toll collection in BiH is done in the same way as in countries that are significantly richer than BiH “, it was stated by the Public Utility Autoceste FBiH.
After the vacation, journalists are waiting for an answer on whether a meeting of employers and authorities will be held, and will there be a hearing for price reductions, or will it suit them, as before, that citizens and businessmen fill the budget coffers, which, by all accounts, are bottomless, BHRT writes.
E.Dz.
