In March last year, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) gave the green light to conduct negotiations with the Government of Serbia, in connection with the construction of the Trebinje Airport. But not everyone likes that idea. First of all, people in neighboring Dubrovnik were not happy to hear it, where they are asking for the project to be suspended until it is determined whether the airport harms nature, more precisely the source of drinking water for that city. Possible damage for Croatian officials, and multiple benefits for domestic ones.
The Trebinje airport should be near the village Taleza. But so far nothing is happening, except that last year, they arranged access roads, demined, and marked the terrain. The construction would be financed by the Republic of Serbia, with 100 million euros. They believe that the airport would benefit everyone.
”Because it will enable a greater influx of tourists, more people who can visit, after all, BiH, Montenegro, and Croatia. It is in everyone’s interest – also for Serbia, which is interested in investing significant money there and starting another part of the economy in Herzegovina,” said Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic.
Only twenty kilometers in an air distance, in Dubrovnik, the project is not viewed favorably. On the contrary, they want to determine first of all whether the future airport in Trebinje harms nature and the river Ombla, which is a source of drinking water for that area.
For the Mayor of Dubrovnik, Mato Frankovic, it is incoherent that someone is building an airport there. The question, he says, is what traffic is expected and who the potential passengers are: ”There are a lot of questions here, but it is not up to us to seek answers but to protect the source of the Ombla river.”
In Trebinje, on the other hand, they no longer want to talk about the airport in front of the cameras – neither in the City Administration nor in the company that will manage it. There is nothing new yet – they stated. They have just said that the strictest air and environmental standards and protection will be implemented. While some question the cost-effectiveness of the airport in Trebinje, allegedly due to the proximity of Dubrovnik, Tivat, andalso Mostar airport, tourist workers see huge potential in it.
”It would open completely new perspectives for development, new tourist markets, even overseas, because it is clear from the airport project that the runway would be 3.5 kilometers long so that even the largest aircraft models could access that airport, unlike Dubrovnik and Tivat airports,” says Bojan Vucurevic, head of the Department of Tourism of the City of Trebinje.
The people of Trebinje are happy about the announcement of the construction, but since it has been talked about for almost a decade, they are not optimistic.
While in Dubrovnik they are asking for the project to be suspended until the facts are established, it has gone so far that rumors are circulating in the public that the airport in Trebinje will, in fact, be a Russian base.
