The implementation of the Orasje – Tuzla highway construction project has been officially blocked, despite the fact that the project, after numerous government promises, had finally commenced.
Namely, the Motorways of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) authority officially informed the Federal Parliament that the completion of the main design for the Maoca – Tuzla section is at a standstill because the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management, and Forestry of Tuzla Canton (TC) has not issued consent for converting agricultural and forest land into construction land.
This consent, they say, is a prerequisite for the Motorways of the FBiH to submit a request to the Federal Ministry of Spatial Planning for issuing urban planning approval.
The Motorways of the FBiH concluded that this issue exceeds their jurisdiction. Unofficially, the process of repurposing agricultural and forest land is awaiting the resolution of certain property-legal relations.
According to their statements, the deadline for completing the main design is January 2025, which will likely be missed. They highlighted that this is not the first time deadlines have been extended; the deadlines for completing the design contract have been postponed multiple times due to the need for additional studies on crossing mining fields of the Kreka coal mines and the inability to access parcels where geological investigations were planned.
The FBiH government had previously allocated funds for the construction of the Orasje – Tuzla highway, specifically for the Maoca – Tuzla section, Lot V Canici – Tuzla, an 8-kilometer segment. Allocations included amounts of 30.500.000 BAM and 10.000.000 BAM.
This section is part of a crucial highway route that practically connects BiH to the European Union (EU), spanning the route from the Croatian border through Orasje, Brcko, and Tuzla, totaling 61 kilometers.
The section is intended to connect further to the Corridor Vc highway near Zepce. The first subsection, Orasje – Brcko – Maoca, is approximately 30 kilometers long, while the second subsection, from Maoca (at the exit of Brcko District) to Tuzla, is about 31 kilometers.
Concept design from 2008
Interestingly, the conceptual design was completed as far back as 2008, but the Brcko District Spatial Plan entirely altered the route of this highway. The contract for developing the Main Design was signed in May 2022, with a 15-month deadline for completion.
With Annexes 2 and 3, the final deadline for the Main Design was extended to May 2024. As of March this year, Motorways of the FBiH were forced to pay a total of 2.388.413 BAM for 11 “temporary situations.”
The public procurement process for supplementing the Conceptual Design and creating the Main Design for the Tuzla – Maoca section concluded with the signing of a contract on May 20th, 2022, with a consortium of bidders: Design & QC d.o.o. Sarajevo, Divel d.o.o., INK Constructor d.o.o. Banja Luka, PPG d.o.o. (a design and construction company), and IPSA Institute d.o.o. The contract value amounts to 8.774.756 BAM, including VAT, Biznis Info writes.
E.Dz.
