Completion of corridor Vc through BiH still uncertain, investigations underway

The highway section, which is around 330 kilometres long, has been under construction since 2001, but so far, only slightly more than 130 kilometres have been completed.

A peculiar aspect of planning in Bosnia and Herzegovina is that, for example, from the bridge over the Sava River near Svilaj, built in 2021, a ten-kilometre highway section was constructed towards Odžak, but it actually leads nowhere and serves only as a local road, awaiting connection with the rest of the corridor. The same situation exists for the section between Buna and Pocitelj in the south.

Throughout the rest of the country, the highway is being built in a fragmented way, with work planned separately on isolated sections only a few kilometres long. Construction often begins without thorough soil investigations, and cost estimates are approximate and are adjusted during the process, causing final costs to multiply and budgets to be regularly exceeded.

Previous promises that the entire highway would be completed by 2020 have not been fulfilled, and the latest projections suggest completion by 2030, although it is clear that even this is unrealistic. The construction of the tunnel through the Prenj mountain on the section between Sarajevo and Mostar, which is ten kilometres long, would take at least six years under optimal conditions, and work has not yet even begun.

The Autoceste Federacije BiH highway operator's management has therefore shifted focus from projecting the completion of the entire corridor to concentrating on its northern section.

"Our plan is for the entire stretch from Sarajevo, that is, from Bradina to the Sava, to be operational in the second half of 2026," director Denis Lasic said in 2024. He had previously announced in 2021, as the then BiH Federation Minister of Transport, that the entire highway would be completed by 2028 at the latest.

According to information available on the Autoceste Federacije BiH website, the European Union provided €599.3 million in non-repayable funds for the construction of the corridor up to 2024. This fact may be the reason for the interest of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) in the project.

Several local media outlets reported that, in addition to EPPO, the BiH Prosecutor's Office and the Special Division for Combating Organised Crime and Corruption of the Federation of BiH Prosecutor's Office are investigating the entity highway operator's operations.

The direct trigger for the investigation was a negative 2024 audit report and a company complaint. Auditors found that Autoceste Federacije BiH incurred over €225 million in additional costs due to changes in construction and supervision contracts.

Even approved loans were not activated on time, resulting in over €220,000 in interest payments for unused funds.

The company confirmed that investigations are ongoing but firmly rejected the possibility of illegal activities under the current management.

The company stated that since 29 May 2023, when the new management was appointed, it has been "waging an uncompromising fight against interest groups that, over the last 15 years, through a network of connected companies and associates, extracted money from BiH to European Union countries through fictitious invoices, false consultancy contracts, and hidden payment flows".

All these activities are thoroughly documented and have been submitted to domestic judicial authorities, the company said, noting that the media campaign against it is led by former director Elmedin Voloder, now the owner of a private company, who is allegedly attempting to cover up his own criminal activities.

In order to protect a very complex investigation, Autoceste Federacije BiH d.o.o. Mostar will not disclose further details and will continue cooperation with all relevant institutions, EPPO, the FBiH Police Administration, and the competent courts in BiH, to clarify and reveal the real instigators of these and similar acts, the company said.

The company's problematic operations are not new and have been a long-standing issue that no previous government has managed to resolve, although the current authorities have filed criminal charges against former director Voloder.

BiH Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic, leader of the ruling People and Justice (NiP) party, stated that he fully supports efforts to investigate all allegations of abuse and illegalities.