Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Government Stifles Bihać Airport Construction Project

(Patria) - The expropriation of land in Bihać for the needs of airport construction is successfully nearing completion.

Out of 500 – 600 landowners, according to the director of JP Aerodrom Bihać, Anel Hadžić, only a handful are unwilling to reach an agreement, and one case has already been decided by the Municipal Court. However, the process of obtaining construction permits cannot proceed without bureaucratic problems.

– At the beginning of the year, we submitted a request to the competent FBiH ministry for an urban planning permit, which, as a strategic project, requires approval from higher levels of government.

We have submitted the approval of the Civil Directorate for Air Traffic for the conceptual design. The Federation is requesting additional documentation, specifically an act on the division of cadastral parcels or a subdivision plan, and agricultural approval. To obtain this from the City of Bihać, the investor is obliged to also submit an urban planning permit.

Therefore, we are seeking this document from a higher level, they refer us to a lower level, which, according to the law, again requires the same document for which we are addressing them, Hadžić explains.

Namely, Article 50 of the Law on Agricultural Land stipulates that the investor, in the process of obtaining an urban planning permit, must prepare an act on changing the land's purpose, making it a lex specialis for land use, and this problem also awaits all other strategic projects, such as road construction.