NO NEW INCREASE IN FUNDS FOR BANJA LUKA-PRIJEDOR MOTORWAY, INCREASE APPROVED LAST YEAR

BANJA LUKA, JANUARY 21 /SRNA/ - No new increase in allocations has been approved for the construction of the Banja Luka-Prijedor motorway, apart from the initial increase of 90 million euros approved last year, as has been stated on several occasions, the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Republika Srpska told SRNA.

Commenting on reports published by certain media outlets in recent days claiming that the motorway project had become additionally more expensive, the Ministry said that at the end of last year a reputable international auditing company determined the parity adjustments and stated that what was worth 290 million euros in 2018, when the contract with the contractor was signed, is today worth an additional 90 million euros, about which the public was informed in a timely manner. The Ministry recalled that prices of basic construction materials have risen significantly over the past eight years and that, according to data from the Republika Srpska Institute of Statistics, material prices in the field of civil engineering have increased by an average of around 44 percent. Had the Government of Republika Srpska not adopted the decision to accept the audit's report and approve the increase in the value of works, the Ministry added, the contractor would have withdrawn, which would have resulted in a lengthy court dispute and an enormous compensation claim. "The Government has not paid any money to the concessionaire; rather, this concerns an increase in the annual availability payment to the concessionaire in the specified amount – meaning that if annual revenue from concession activities does not reach the expected level, the Government will cover the difference, which is standard practice for this type of contract," the Ministry explained. In this regard, the Ministry stressed that confusion in certain media reports stems from incorrect interpretation of technical terminology, including unit construction costs, long-term concession rights and revenue projections. They added that it is also incorrect and misleading to aggregate total concession fees over a 30-year period and present them as the construction cost per kilometer of motorway, noting that such an approach is methodologically unfounded and creates a false impression of the project's actual costs. "The authors of certain articles persistently construct an inaccurate narrative that places the Government of Republika Srpska in a context of continuously allocating enormous funds and jeopardizing the interests of citizens and the budget, even though the concession model is clearly defined and enables project implementation without direct financial burden on the Republika Srpska budget," the Ministry stated. The Ministry said it continuously informs the public of all data of public interest, adding that the financial model and projections of annual concession costs constitute the concessionaire's business secret and that Republika Srpska has no authority to publish them. "The Ministry of Transport and Communications has officially requested the concessionaire on two occasions to submit and publish the relevant annex to the contract, but the concessionaire refused," the Ministry said. The Chinese concessionaire requested an adjustment of unit prices for certain construction materials in June 2024, which was approved in 2025 by the previous Government of Republika Srpska in accordance with clearly defined provisions of the concession contract, about which the public was duly informed.