Hotel Aura in Srebrenica not completed even after 6 years: FDS invested 8.6 million KM in construction

The construction of Hotel Aura in Srebrenica, whose investor is the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory (FDS), has been ongoing for more than six years, and so far 8,600,000 KM has been invested. It is a modern facility with a total usable area of about 5,000 m2 with 38 accommodation units (double rooms and apartments) of four-star category, reports the Patria news agency.

The hotel is completely finished in terms of construction, and will begin operations after the completion of interior furnishing works, it was confirmed for the Patria agency from FDS marketing.

The main reason for the unplanned prolongation of the facility's opening is the fact that at the 18th Assembly of the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory d.d., held on July 15, 2015, no decision was made on forming a company to manage the hotel so it could start operating.

-Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of former minister Jerko Ivanković Lijanović voted against, and it was made impossible to form the company Hotel Aura d.o.o. in Srebrenica, and thus its opening and normal operation. We note that as preparation for the hotel's opening, we twice announced competitions for the selection of personnel we intended to employ in the hotel, but due to the mentioned unreasonable decision, the entire project was prolonged. Otherwise, the position and desire of the FDS Management was for the hotel to start operating by the spring of 2016 at the latest - state from FDS.

The hotel should provide jobs for 35 to 40 workers, and the plan is to engage all possible resources that the residents of Srebrenica can provide for the hotel's functioning. For the third time, a competition will be announced for the selection of personnel and their training.

When asked why the hotel construction took so long only to ultimately be halted, FDS states that in the first phase of construction there were unplanned problems with a landslide that required extraordinary remediation, funds, and paperwork.

-Then the pace was affected by the fact that a tender was announced for each phase of construction, since it was impossible to find a single contractor for the overall overly complex hotel works, especially in the area of Srebrenica and the wider surroundings, although our intention was to engage companies that employ returnees even in the construction itself. Collecting bids for each tender, and deciding on the most favorable and highest quality bidder, naturally required a certain amount of time.

Also, for every major investment of FDS d.d., a decision of the Company Assembly is required, so the annual Assemblies had to be waited for, which additionally affected the time factor.

Investigation by the FBiH Financial Police

On the other hand, the entire story surrounding the hotel construction was also followed by an investigation by the FBiH Financial Police, which in 2013 submitted a Report to the BiH Prosecutor's Office on the existence of grounds for suspicion of the criminal offense of illegal business operations at the Sarajevo Tobacco Factory, and one of the disputed points also relates to the construction of Hotel Aura in Srebrenica, reports the Patria news agency.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office responded to the Patria news agency that they cannot give any answer to the question of what is happening with the investigation based on the Report of the Financial Police, which relates to the construction of the hotel in Srebrenica, for which FDS allocated funds.

The Report states, among other things, that the FDS Management abused its position by selecting, as the contractor for the construction of Hotel Aura in Srebrenica, the company Tehno d.o.o. Sarajevo, which in its bid did not even specify a deadline for the execution of works.

This company was much worse than the other two bidders. Due to deficiencies in the execution of works, FDS was damaged by 154,476 KM.

The supervisory bodies warned the FDS Management that the company Tehno was not carrying out works according to the project documentation and that there was no adequate insurance for workers and the construction site, and in December 2009, the FDS Management concluded a contract with a new contractor, the company Meister d.o.o. Živinice. The value of the works amounted to 849,578 KM.