DAMAGE KEEPS GROWING: Zeros in the contract for the Vranduk-Ponirak section have eaten millions, the government and Autoceste have no solution!

By: A. Čorbo-Zećo

Autoceste FBiH are not willing to respond to media inquiries, they are not willing to be transparent, even though the 'trojka' (the ruling coalition) loudly proclaimed upon coming to power that their work would be characterized by transparent and open operations.

However, little is known about this public company, Autoceste, and media inquiries remain in the inboxes of the press service, which are unable to even respond that they have received an email (sent on November 9th), let alone provide an answer to questions that are, admittedly, not easy, but are certainly in line with the current situation, or more precisely, the standstill in the construction of Corridor Vc.

Namely, millions of euros spent for about five and a half kilometers of unbuilt highway, specifically the construction of the Vranduk-Ponirak section, near Zenica, was announced six years ago as one of the largest infrastructure projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which has not been completed even four years after the start of works and is subject to a prosecution investigation.

An answer to the question of where the money went should be sought in the contract signed for this section, in which, as things stand, fictitious quantities were added to the bill of quantities to favor preferred contractors.



According to what is visible, the quantities that were added were not in the main project, which was done without exploratory work and was carried out by the Mostar-based company Integra d.o.o.

The goal, our sources claim, was to provide information to only one contractor so that they would underestimate those positions, while other bidders would be significantly more expensive.

"Since the positions are fictitious, they would not be done, so they would not be paid for, and the favored contractor would charge the other items at higher prices," claims our source.

As we said, Autoceste did not respond to Patria's inquiry about how it is possible that such a contract was signed at all, and whether the management at the time was aware of certain suspicions that engineers were doing certain jobs without the management's knowledge.



All these jobs would not have been possible without the Commission for International Procurement, so investigative bodies could start with them when it comes to this increasingly difficult situation, because the works have been suspended.

Autoceste FBiH claimed that it was a temporary suspension and that the construction would continue after "harmonizing the project documentation and additional cost analysis".

They never published or explained that when the bids arrived, almost all bidders discovered the trap, so they put "ridiculously" small amounts of a few euros for those works, and even zeros for some positions.

And although this was not permissible by law, the management at the time entered into negotiations with the contractor Azvirt and managed to sign a contract with statements that they would perform these works for zero euros and would not seek additional funds.

Allegedly, the management was misled and was unaware of the deliberate fraud pre-arranged by the persons who led these procedures.

And because of all this, there are major problems in the realization of the contract, which should not have been signed according to the valid law in BiH, and the culmination occurs with the suspension of works when the new management took over in May of this year, when all activities on the construction site ceased.

The damage that will result from the delay in the realization of the northern part of Corridor Vc is estimated at tens of millions of euros in direct revenue, and much more for the economy.

The inability of the current management, headed by HDZ's Denis Lasić, to resolve the situation has also led to fierce arguments within the FBiH Government, as Prime Minister Nermin Nikšić is even ready to replace the management, but the responsible minister, Andrijana Katić from HDZ, is protecting HDZ's personnel.

The Vranduk-Ponirak route is part of the Poprikuše – Zenica north section, and is located on Corridor Vc, which is supposed to connect Bosnia and Herzegovina with Croatia and Hungary.

The Azerbaijani company Azvirt has never wanted to talk about the construction problems and the investor's claims, emphasizing that their contract with Autoceste FBiH does not allow them to do so.

Incidentally, the Vranduk - Ponirak section is not the only project where the company Azvirt is engaged as a contractor. This company is part of the Azerbaijani-Chinese consortium to which the multi-million euro project of building the Počitelj bridge was awarded, which is supposed to connect the banks of the Neretva River in the south of BiH, and which collapsed even before its construction was completed, and for which there is also currently no solution, nor is it known how the damage will be repaired, except that it will cost millions of euros.