Dragan Covic pushed 'undesirable' investors out of 'Aluminij' and workers into the abyss

By: Rasim Belko

It is now quite clear that forces which have been drawing capital out of the Aluminij do not want foreign investors to revive the fallen Herzegovina giant.

Those forces are led by HDZ leader Dragan Covic who has been trying to thwart all attempts of the federal government to return the workers to the factory.

A few attempts to bring investors in have failed, mainly because of the electricity prices.

However, according to some unofficial sources close to the Federal government, a new investor has showed up whose conditions are acceptable to the federal government. The investor comes from Turkey and intends to enter the Aluminij.

However, the Turkish investor apparently want to produce more than just raw materials. They have expressed interest in purchasing and reviving one of the discounted blocs of the Thermo Electric plant Tuzla; once revived, the plant would produce electricity for Aluminij only.

What comes particularly encouraging, and seems certain, is the investor's willingness to return about 900 workers back to work.

However, the investor has come across an obstacle and our source says 'Dragan Covic is pulling the handbrake'.

Covic doesn't have a problem with Turkish money but with the loss of the opportunity to draw money from the Aluminij. And 'Soko' has become addicted to the Aluminij's money. It's hard to stop as it will be even harder to build new haciendas.

Another reason for Covic's problems with the Turkish investor could be the announcement that Aluminij will no longer be a 'goldmine' for the companies controlled by Covic's partners.

That's why the HDZ BiH has insisted on the investors whom they could be making deals with, continuing to drain Aluminij using its workers.

In their public appearances HDZ BiH expressed support for the consortium consisted of M.T. Abraham Group from Israel, China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC), and China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd. (NFC) from China.

However, the conditions set by this company were extremely unfavorable for the BiH Federal government and so were for the citizens too. The consortium was asking for a special price of electricity for 10 year period. It was first at price of 40 euro/MWh, and according to our source, subsequently they asked for even lower price of 30 euro In addition, the Israeli-Chinese consortium has planned to build a gas operated plant from which they would be selling the electricity, while Aluminij would be receiving cheap electricity from one of the two electric companies in Federation.

We don't know if some secret deal was behind the support that the Israeli-Chinese consortium has been receiving from the management of the Aluminij. What we do know is that the Turkish investor isn't good enough for them because there would be no room for maneuvering and so HDZ's tycoons would be deprived of another source of wealth.

Those who would profit from the Turkish investor are the workers – they would get their jobs back.

The workers have lost their optimism long time ago. Out of all expectations, only those relating to the notices and redundancy packages have remained. Should HDZ continue to obstruct these last attempts to save the company, those terminations will become a reality.

Dragan Covic doesn't care about Bosniak or Serb workers. The HDZ leader who swears by his 'legitimate right to represent Croats', couldn't care less about the Croat workers either.

Covic only cares about his tycoons and his personal gain. So why ever should he agree to Turkish investment which would help Aluminij get up on its feet and allow hundreds of workers to keep their jobs.