Unnecessary Projects: The BiH Prosecutor's Office Should Launch an Investigation into the Construction of the Zenica-Travnik Gas Pipeline

BH-Gas has filed a counterclaim against the Croatian company "Monter strojarske montaže" Zagreb and GP ''Put'' Sarajevo, seeking damages in the amount of 12 million KM, Patria reports.

BH-Gas ordered, and these two companies built the Zenica – Travnik gas pipeline, worth around 40 million KM. The contract was signed in 2012. However, even four years later, the gas pipeline has not been put into operation. It lacks the necessary operating permit. Experts warn that there are too many other shortcomings. Above all, safety-related ones.

The contract between BH-Gas and the consortium was terminated in 2014. The consortium subsequently filed a lawsuit, but BH-Gas has now initiated proceedings before the Arbitration Court of the Foreign Trade Chamber of BiH. Both sides claim they have been damaged.

A high-placed source from BH-Gas, speaking to Patria on condition of anonymity, says that the BiH Prosecutor's Office should launch a detailed investigation into the construction of the Zenica - Travnik gas pipeline. But not only regarding the shortcomings during construction, but also about who ordered the construction of the gas pipeline through one of the poorest cantons in the Federation of BiH. It must have been known that such a gas pipeline would not be profitable.

- It is clear that residents in Travnik cannot afford gas heating, as the purchasing power of the population in this municipality is quite low. If these data were known, why did anyone even start this project? - says this source.

- If someone counted on business entities as consumers, they must have known that the economy in this part of BiH is also at a low level – he adds.

The construction of the Zenica – Travnik gas pipeline was financed by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The loan is being repaid by the citizens of the Federation of BiH.

A feasibility study from 2005 allegedly showed that the construction of the Zenica – Travnik gas pipeline would be economically justified. However, construction, this source claims, only began in 2012, without a revision of the study having been conducted. There are also few details about why the bid of the renowned Italian company SICIM was rejected, which offered several million KM less than the Zagreb-Sarajevo consortium. SICIM worked on some of the most important gas pipelines running through Italy. There is no doubt that the unprofitable gas pipeline would at least have been technically sound.

Former director of BH-Gas, Almir Bečarević, does not think that the Zenica – Travnik gas pipeline should not have been built. On the contrary. However, he says in an interview with Patria, this gas pipeline became unprofitable due to high gas prices in BiH, but also because its construction was not continued further towards Croatia.

Patria's source further explains that the same mistakes were made during the construction of the Visoko – Brnjaci gas pipeline. BH-Gas invested more than seven million KM to bring gas to this small municipality, also in the Central Bosnia Canton, primarily for companies owned by the Stanić family. Several years later, it turned out that the Stanić family left a debt of over three million KM. The gas pipeline failed, and BH-Gas cannot collect the debts, Patria reports.