Croatia's Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, on Friday offered assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina in repairing a railway line damaged in last month's floods in the northern Herzegovina region.

The railway line is important to Croatia because it transports goods from the southern Croatian Adriatic port of Ploce.

Butkovic met with the Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina's Federation entity, Andrijana Katic, in Mostar on Friday to discuss reconstruction of the section of the railway south of Jablanica in Northern Herzegovina.

Dissatisfied with the slow pace of the railway line reconstruction, the Federation authorities dismissed the management of the entity's public railway company, Zeljeznice Federacije BiH (FBiH Railways), this week.

Butkovic said Croatia is willing to help with donations and expertise because it has experience with large investments in railway infrastructure, including projects financed by the European Union, and is ready to share this experience with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Katic thanked the Croatian government for its support, saying that the reconstruction of the railway line is a priority, but there are certain procedures that Bosnia and Herzegovina needs to resolve internally, notably within the FBiH Railways company.

“I think they will do what is expected of them in the very near future,” Katic said.

On Thursday, several union representatives protested in Jablanica demanding the reconstruction of the railway line, while several companies have warned that they are on the verge of collapse because they cannot obtain raw materials from the port of Ploce.