ViK will not receive 25 million euros from EBRD until the FBiH Parliament provides support

Only when both houses of the FBiH Parliament support the agreement for the "Sarajevo Water Supply" project, which will be financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in the amount of 50 million KM (25 million euros), will the first of three tranches in the amount of 10 million euros become operational, writes Patria agency.

This agreement was signed on July 21 by the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Elmedin Konaković and the Deputy Director of the EBRD for the Infrastructure Sector Lin O'Grady. KJKP "Vodovod i kanalizacija" is responsible for the implementation of the agreement.

However, given that there are no FBiH Parliament sessions throughout August, this project is on hold. Sarajevans will continue to suffer from water restrictions for some time, while bills will arrive regularly. Some even face enormously increased bills due to water meter malfunctions, but ViK is unwilling to take responsibility.

If sessions of both houses of the FBiH Parliament were to be held in September, the reconstruction project of the water supply and sewage network would begin at the end of that month or the beginning of October. However, knowing the political situation, the series of accumulated problems, and the numerous items that have been pending for months, there is little optimism that this extremely important project will be prioritized.

According to the project, funds are planned in three tranches.

- The first and second would amount to 10 million euros each, and the third tranche would be five million euros. The funds are taken for 15 years with a three-year grace period – Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković said earlier.

He added that if the funds from the first tranche are sufficient to solve the water supply problem, then the second and third tranches can be abandoned without any negative interest. This scenario is highly questionable, given that the reconstruction of the water supply network has not been done for years. Otherwise, the question of how ViK will service this loan has arisen, and speculation about water price increases has emerged.

The strained relations between the management of KJKP Vodovod i kanalizacija and the KS Government also create an additional problem. Prime Minister Konaković openly stated that the ViK management should be dismissed. The first step was taken by dismissing three members of the company's Assembly, who should then dismiss the Supervisory Board, and they, in turn, the management.

Otherwise, the situation in ViK is a reflection of different factions within Sarajevo's SDA, and this was clearly evident at the last session of the KS Assembly during the discussion of the VIK report for 2016, and then during the vote. While the KS Prime Minister announces the dismissal of director Nezir Hadžić, another SDA faction, which has a majority of deputies in the KS Assembly, strongly opposes it and supported the ViK report. Information even emerged that Konaković's dismissal could be jeopardized precisely because of ViK.

SDA President Bakir Izetbegović confirmed for Patria that "the party leadership has not dealt with Vodovod in Sarajevo, nor any other water supply, nor with Konaković's dismissal." Izetbegović indirectly admitted that this is within the jurisdiction of the cantonal SDA, headed by Asim Sarajlić, with Konaković, Huso Ćesir, Mahir Dević, Fikret Prevljak, and Jasmin Terović as vice-presidents. There are several factions among them, and during the KS Assembly session, the name Huso Ćesir was most frequently mentioned.

If this loan is not approved in the coming period, it is illusory to think that reconstruction will be carried out during the winter period. In that case, the reconstruction would be postponed to 2018, i.e., the year of the General Elections and the fierce pre-election campaign.