The City Council of Mostar, at a session held without the presence of the Councilors of the Bosniak Club, adopted the decision to grant prior approval for the concession of the Mostar Airport, while the public company Mostar Bus was granted a loan of 2.2 million marks for business modernization.
19 out of 20 councilors voted for the decision on the concession, and the mayor of Mostar, Mario Kordić, pointed out that the concession does not imply the transfer of ownership of the airport, but only the right to manage it.
“The city of Mostar should be satisfied with the fact that there is interest in the concession, since this is not a common practice when it comes to airports of this capacity,” said Kordić.
The procedure was initiated after the company AAFS Energy and Infrastructure d.o.o. submitted a self-initiated offer for a concession over the Mostar airport. In the adopted decision, the City Council states that the project of development and modernization of the Mostar International Airport is of special public interest for the City of Mostar.
The council asked the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to oblige the future concessionaire to take over all employees of Mostar Airport or manage the takeover through a concession model.
Mostar Airport Director Marko Đuzel said that the airport needs significant investments in infrastructure, including the runway and terminal building.
“For more serious development, significantly larger funds are needed than the airport can provide alone,” said Đuzel.
The city council also approved the loan of JP Mostar bus in the amount of 2.2 million BAM from Intesa Sanpaolo Bank BiH.
The acting director of Mostar bus, Željko Marijanović, said that this is the final step of the company’s stabilization and modernization plan.
From the total amount of the loan, 800 thousand BAM will be invested in the purchase of ten used compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, 200 thousand KM in the digitization of the billing and transport control system, while the remaining part of the funds will be used for working capital and settlement of existing obligations to suppliers.
Marijanović announced the introduction of a modern real-time passenger information system, including digital displays at bus stops and online vehicle tracking.
The session was attended by 20 out of a total of 35 councilors. Except for councilor Sergej Šotrić, who justified his absence, the session was boycotted by the councilors of the Bosniak Club.
Due to the lack of the required majority of 24 votes, it was not possible to decide on individual items on the agenda, including budget rebalancing and the decision on subsidizing kindergartens.
Mayor Kordić warned that funds for subsidies to private kindergartens were planned through budget rebalancing, and that a delay in making the decision could call into question its implementation before the start of the new pedagogical year, Fena writes.
