The Minister of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Forto, held a press conference to address, among other things, the reconstruction of the railway line destroyed in the floods. He heavily criticized the Director of the FBiH Railways, Enis Dzafic.

“The fact is that we do not have a project for the reconstruction of the railway, nor do we have an answer on when the Bosnian economy will finally have access to railway transport. Since my appointment, I have focused on the railways, even though the responsibility for them is at the entity level. We wanted to create momentum where the railway infrastructure would drive the next economic cycle,” Forto explained to the media.

But then, in October, there was an interruption in a particularly crucial segment.

“All over the world, red flags go up when the railway system isn't working. In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, since October 4, we haven't had the most basic answers. Today is the day to say who is responsible for this. I'll tell you my opinion, which I believe is correct. The responsibility lies with the Director of the FBiH Railways, who did not take all the actions prescribed by law, which is to establish functional infrastructure. Lately, he's been hiding behind the FBiH Government, but as the head of such an important company, he should have taken all possible actions,” Forto stated.

He reminded the audience that, according to the FBiH Railways, losses of 280,000 KM are incurred daily. The industry even offered to finance the work due to the enormous costs resulting from the interruption.

“Some suppliers have transport costs up to 16 times higher because of the interruption. The Director never even notified anyone about the offer,” Forto claimed.

Forto also mentioned offers from some of the most reputable engineering firms in the region and Bosnia and Herzegovina, such as the IPSA Institute, which offered to prepare a reconstruction project for the railway infrastructure where it was interrupted, free of charge.

“These offers came just a few days after the interruption. No response was received from the Federation Railways. While the Director hid behind the Federation Government to avoid responsibility, businesses are suffering. Money isn't the issue—the costliest thing is waiting. Ten days of waiting is equivalent to the cost of the entire reconstruction,” Forto noted.

He called on the Federation Government to dismiss the Director of the FBiH Railways.

Interestingly, according to the party allocation of functions, the Director of the Federation Railways was assigned to the ‘Our Party’ (Nasa Stranka). However, at the end of 2023, it was decided that Dzafic would remain in the position. This decision by Edin Forto sparked considerable discontent within his own party.