The tender hasn’t even been announced, yet it’s already known who could be the contractor for the reconstruction of a 15-kilometer road between Foca and Scepan Polje, in the eastern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
At least that’s how it seems after the Government of Republika Srpska (RS) signed a memorandum with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) at the end of February, giving them priority in future tenders.
It was agreed that the entity and the Chinese company would jointly seek a loan of 100 million euros from the Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM), which would be repaid by the RS.
Why is the Chinese company favored?
“When you have financing, you also have an advantage in the public procurement process,” said the Prime Minister of RS, Radovan Viskovic, at a press conference on March 13th.
When asked by journalists if this means that the Chinese corporation is favored, Viskovic said that “to some extent it is.”
Transparency International BiH (TI BiH) is not surprised by this move of the Government of RS. They say that the public procurement will be formally conducted, but the Chinese bidder will pass through.
“The condition of Chinese creditors has almost always been that the contractor is from China, not only for RS but also for Serbia. The question is whether that credit arrangement would be jeopardized if someone else got the job,” said Srdjan Traljic from TI BiH.
Secret contracts with Chinese banks and contractors
The state-owned CRBC is one of the main contractors on Belt and Road infrastructure projects. Through this initiative, China provides loans from its state banks for infrastructure construction worldwide.
CRBC has been building in Serbia and Montenegro for years, but not in BiH.
Regarding other Chinese companies and their projects in RS, Shandong Hi-Speed Group Corporation (SDHS) is building a 40-kilometer section of the Banja Luka-Prijedor highway worth about 300 million euros.
This section has been granted to a Chinese company under concession, but the Government of RS has not disclosed the financial parts of the contract despite court rulings following lawsuits from TI BiH and the Center for the Environment from Banja Luka.
“They are hiding conditions. As soon as something is hidden, there is a possibility that some agreement has been made in the background. We received two judgments, and the Center for the Environment received three. They provided the Center with the contract (for the construction of the Banja Luka-Prijedor highway) but without the financial model. That part is crucial, and we insisted on it,” added Srdjan Traljic from TI BiH, Slobodna Evropa writes.
photo: illustration
E.Dz.
