Minister Konaković shouldn't worry - Halilagić for NAP: We expect to have air routes from Tuzla soon, concessions are impossible!

By Rasim Belko

Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konaković got seriously worried after the statement by the Director of Tuzla International Airport, Dževad Halilčević, "that all airports in BiH should be brought to the best possible state, their value increased, and then possibly move towards concessions. In our region, we have good, but also bad examples of concessions, which is why we should certainly make the best decisions in our context."

In a Facebook post, the head of diplomacy and NiP expressed concern that all of us who advocated against concessions would now justify and support them, because we are allegedly controlled by some telecoms and patriots from the treasury, because we "shouted" after the imposed Prime Minister of FBiH, Nermin Nikšić, was proposed, more like ordered, concessions at airports by US Ambassador Michael Murphy and Head of the EU Delegation Johann Sattler.

To avoid him pondering for a long time whether SDA will listen to the leaders of the Trojka, we asked the Prime Minister of Tuzla Canton, Irfan Halilagić, whether the Tuzla Airport will be under concessions.

Halilagić told NAP: "At this moment, we are focused on talks with airlines and bringing back the lines that were 'canceled' with the departure of WizzAir. We estimate that we are close to a solution and we should present it to the public soon."

Therefore, the authorities in Tuzla Canton are far from trying to sell illusions by justifying the story of concessions, as the Sarajevo 'tricolors' are doing.

The Prime Minister of TK told Patria regarding concessions that they "are not a commitment or a solution at this moment".

"I am saying this primarily because the issue of the airport's property relations is an unresolved issue because the land is registered as the property of the state Ministry of Defense, and we know where we stand regarding state property. Therefore, our current goal is the stabilization and continuity of the company's operations due to its importance for the canton," Halilagić told us.

Thus, Tuzla Airport will remain the property of that canton, because the authorities there have no intention or possibility to grant concessions on something that is on someone else's land, but they intend to try to improve it with new routes and companies.

And so it will be until the adoption of the Law on State Property or perhaps a decision by the Ministry of Defense to expel the airport, which would be disastrous.

It is obvious that Konaković has once again missed the point, and today he was best refuted by his partner from the "Naša stranka" party and the relevant Minister of Transport of BiH, Edin Forto, with the message that granting concessions on airports in FBiH would take us to the Champions League. Airports in RS would presumably be in some South American cup, given that both ambassadors and the 'tricolors' treat the smaller entity as a separate and independent territory.