Construction of the Adriatic-Ionian highway is very important for B&H and the entire region, as stated by the Assistant of the Minister of Transport and Communications of FB&H, Pavo Boban.
The issue of the Adriatic-Ionian highway was discussed at the last meeting which was held in the Cabinet of the Minister of Communications and Transport of B&H, which was attended by representatives of competent entity ministries, who adopted unique opinion to support the commitment that the highway of the Adriatic Ionian corridor must be constructed through the territory of B&H.
As he recalled, the so-called Adriatic-Ionian Initiative was launched two decades ago, which was aimed to affirm the project and this initiative, which should have included Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, B&H, Montenegro, Albania and Greece.
Several meetings were held, at which the serious proponents of the project were representatives of Croatia, Montenegro and Albania, while the others were passive observers.
“The attitude of B&H depended on the representative who participated, since some of them supported the project and some of them had the attitude that this is not our problem. As far as I know, three options were discussed by which the length of the possible project of the highway on Adriatic-Ionic corridor varied from one variant to another,” said Boban.
Delay in the possible realization of this project, as he added, was the fact that this corridor has not been verified by the relevant authorities at the European level. After Croatia accessed the European Union, the attitude towards this project was changed, so it was included in the basic network of roads that are important to the EU.
Boban said that no particular activity was conducted in the Ministry of Transport and Communications of FB&H related to this project because, at this stage, it is within the jurisdiction of the Council of Ministers of FB&H.
“The representatives of the Federal Ministry accompanied the activities and participated in some of the meetings that were organized regarding this topic. No decisions related this topic were made yet. Essentially, the main problem is the lack of strategy and spatial planning documentation through which the attitude on this issue should be crystallized,” said Boban.
According to some variants, almost 40 kilometers of this highway will coincide with the Corridor 5C, which makes a significant advantage in the calculation of the construction. This project has been also labeled as a serious basis for economic development and positioning of Mostar as the regional economic center.
(Source: klix.ba/ photo n1)