Adnan Terzic, the director of Autoceste FBiH, said in an interview for the Vecernji list that the highway will soon be in Mostar.
“We have a plan to construct a route from Zvirovici to Pocitelj in 30 months. Afterwards, we will continue constructing the route from Pocitelj towards Kvanj, which is 7 kilometers long and is planned to last 26 months but can be done in parallel. Lastly, we plan to construct a route from the tunnel Kvanj go Buna, for which we expect to need 36 months,” Terzic said for Vecernji list.
He added that if everything goes according to plan and if everyone is determined to do this, the highway can come close to Mostar.
The funds have been secured for this. However, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has set a condition – increasing the excise tax on fuels – in order to make their 30 million Euro operable.
“From the tunnel Kvanj towards Buna, we have an approved 100 million Euro from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which doesn’t require an increase in the excise tax. However, the government from the Federation of BiH has asked the state ministry not to sign that agreement unless the excise tax is increased,” he said.
“However, we now have 280 million Euro, which the EIB is offering us. I repeat that it’s 100 million Euro for Tunnel Kvanj-Buna, 50 million Euro for the tunnel Zenica. Besides that, we have 100 million Euro from OPEC’s OFID fund at our disposal for the continuation of the highway towards Nemila, where there are bridges and viaducts. We also have another 36 million Euro from the Kuwaiti Fund for Reconstruction and Development. None of these financiers demand that we increase excise taxes, but we ourselves are requiring that we increase excise taxes to continue building,” Terzić said.
(Source: Biznis Info)
