Company from Lukavac laid off 150 workers due to flood damage!

In just six days, 55 small and medium-sized enterprises from the Tuzla Canton reported damages of 31 million marks to the Chamber of Commerce from the catastrophic floods, confirmed for the BH News Agency Patria (NAP) Nedret Kikanović, director of the TK Chamber of Commerce. This institution has launched an initiative to collect accurate data on damages, considering that this canton, the most industrially developed in FBiH, was severely hit by the floods.

According to his estimates, about 30 percent of the TK economy was severely affected by the natural disaster. Thousands of jobs are at risk, and the data is still being compiled.

- It is difficult to say how many people will lose their jobs, but it is clear that it will be a large number. One wood industry company in Lukavac was forced to lay off 150 workers, which is half of its employees. The Šikulje mine in Lukavac practically no longer exists, there is a lake there. More than 1,500 workers are on standby - says Kikanović.

As he points out, the most damage was reported in Tuzla, 12.3 million marks, Gračanica 8.7 million, and Lukavac 7.6 million marks. This is, as he says, direct damage to facilities, machinery, raw materials, and goods.

- This is only a small portion of the damages, as we have not yet received reports of damages in large systems, mines, power plants, cement plants, saltworks, where damages will be measured in tens of millions of KM individually. Likewise, farmers have just started sending estimates, and so far we have received data of 750,000 KM in damages - Kikanović points out.

He notes that there will certainly be companies that will not be able to recover, and some will need more than a year to restart work and production.

- These damages are enormous, and we want to collect the most accurate data possible in order to provide it to the authorities and try to help entrepreneurs, through donors or other forms of assistance, to preserve as many jobs and as much production as possible - Kikanović told NAP.