Last year, thousands of passenger and cargo vehicles used toll booths for the constructed parts of the A-1 highway on Corridor 5C, more precisely the sections from Tarcin to Sarajevo and further to Zenica, and the section Medjugorje – Ljubuški.
However, nowadays, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the traffic was almost halved in half a year, Avaz news portal reports.
In March, when the pandemic had just begun, there were about 300,000 fewer vehicles at the exit, and in half a year the total number was reduced by 18.04 percent, which is a significant drop compared to previous years.
As confirmed for “Avaz” from “Autoceste FBiH”, in the first six months, a total of 4,618,964 vehicles were recorded at the exit from the A1 motorway. All this resulted in a drop in revenues.
The total amount of realized revenues from toll collection for the period from January 1 to June 30 amounted to 15,840,271.73 BAM, excluding VAT, and decreased by 3,260,196.15 BAM or 17.07 percent compared to the same period 2020, was told from “Autocesta FBiH”
The money from toll collection is used by “FBiH Motorways” for salaries to employees, regular maintenance of the highway, but also servicing loans to international partners, which is very important for further projects.
To make matters worse, “FBiH Motorways” in 2018 generated toll revenues in the amount of 41,219,256 BAM. Even if the turnover doubles by the end of the year, the collection cannot exceed 30 million BAM. For comparison, it is important to note that a total of 4,618,964 vehicles used the highway half a year, while 2,369,545 vehicles used the highway in three months.
