Open days on the Corridor Vc Prenj tunnel: a promising new public engagement tool?

Public sector company JP Autoceste is currently planning the most difficult and expensive section of the Corridor Vc motorway – a 10-kilometre tunnel through the Prenj mountain and its approach roads, costing an estimated EUR 1 billion. 

No-one knows exactly what awaits the builders inside the karstic mountain, and the sections approaching the tunnel would run through inhabited areas near Konjic and biodiversity-rich sections like the Bijela valley Emerald site and Klenova draga, a rocky valley home to golden eagles. The exit on the Mostar side would also run above the quiet village of Podgorani, condemning the locals to noise and pollution.

Both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Investment Bank (EIB) are considering financing the project, and the EBRD is currently holding a public consultation period on the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), until the end of June. 

From 5 to 7 June, the EBRD and JP Autoceste also organised open days in Konjic, Jablanica and Mostar to better familiarise the public with the plans. Bankwatch went along to the Mostar event to better understand both the project and the open days format.

A useful tool for discussing project specifics

The event was held at the cultural centre in Potoci, a village north of Mostar, suitably near to the project site. Several representatives attended from JP Autoceste, the EBRD and the Enova consultancy who worked on the ESIA study. This made it possible for the public to discuss a range of issues like routing and design, land acquisition, and other environmental and social impacts, and to examine the route in detail with the project designers. 

Local authority representatives had also made additional efforts to inform people about the event. Although some people could not attend during working hours at all, the time frame of 09:00-17:00 allowed at least some flexibility. Around 25 members of the public dropped by in Potoci – a relatively small proportion of those potentially affected, but a very decent start considering the relatively rural setting and unfamiliar format. 

Since discussions could run in parallel, people could get detailed individual answers to their questions and comments without undue time pressure. The format also seems suitable for less outgoing people who would hesitate to speak up in front of a wider audience.

Not a replacement for plan and project-level consultations

The open days format looks like a promising engagement tool to complement public consultations, but shouldn’t be seen as a replacement. These events are more informative than consultative, and are difficult to record accurately. People’s inputs are dispersed throughout the day and they talk with various project representatives, so even with good organisation, the chances of something being missed in the minutes are high.

The Prenj events also took place at a stage when the main features of the motorway, such as the routing, had already been adopted as part of the project-level spatial plan, and only minor adjustments can take place. This can be useful, but only if also preceded by earlier consultations when all options are still open. 

Lack of routing-level public consultations may boomerang again

Such early consultations did not happen for this project. The Federation of BiH legislation required public consultations on the spatial plan, but they were held only in 2011 when the planned route from Konjic to Mostar was vastly different from the one that was later adopted. It was shortened in 2016 to go via the Prenj tunnel, rather than running along the mountain, and the Federal parliament adopted the spatial plan in 2017 without soliciting public input on the changed sections. 

Consultations on the Federal-level environmental assessment for the project were held in 2018 and 2023, but as the route had already been decided on, they were not meaningful. The same applies to the currently ongoing EBRD ESIA consultation. Even now, it is hard to understand how the routing decision was taken and whether the currently planned variant is the least damaging one possible. 

A similar situation south of Mostar has led to an impasse in which many residents oppose the route, and some have resisted the expropriation of their properties. People don’t understand why the motorway has to run over their land and houses, when a seemingly better option on the Podveležje plateau is available. The EBRD’s accountability mechanism has confirmed that the routing decision was not taken transparently and recommended a re-examination, but the Bank staff are reluctant to insist on it. 

The EBRD and EIB have a chance to learn from this and insist that the routing decision for Prenj is revised. The spatial plan adoption process was not done according to the law and needs to be overturned. The route then needs to be publicly consulted, based on a clear overview of the pros and cons of each option. Such a process would take some time, but could have been completed long ago if it had been done when people near Mostar first raised their concerns. 

High-risk projects need solid foundations

With the open days, JP Autoceste has taken a step forward in improving its communication and building more open relations with project-affected people, but the question remains whether it will be enough without leaving options available for route changes. 

It is for the Federal authorities to decide on what options are open, but the EBRD and EIB can make it a condition of their financing. However, the EBRD’s publication of the project ESIA for consultation suggests they are skipping this stage again, risking another backlash. Lack of early stage consultations may negatively impact implementation and result in increased costs for an already extremely expensive project, which in the end will be paid by the public. If the EBRD and EIB are truly interested in improving the lives of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s people, they need to ensure that everything possible is done to avoid this.

This billion-euro project with a 10-kilometre tunnel in karst terrain is risky enough, without further delays caused by improper consultations during the planning stages. Open days are welcome, but they need to be built on more solid foundations.