Mostar locals continue to resist Corridor Vc routing amid new tunnel loan talks
March 19, 2024
On 11-13 March a Bankwatch team visited Mostar and the nearby villages of Kosor, Ortiješ and Malo Polje. The team met with more than 25 landowners from the three villages, visited vineyards in Ortiješ, nearby construction sites on the Corridor Vc, and the Podveležje ridge. They discussed with local people the developments in the valley, ongoing legal action and the results of complaints at the EBRD’s accountability mechanism.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Corridor Vc motorway south of Mostar needs rerouting to meet EBRD and EU standards
February 16, 2024
A European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) compliance review has vindicated Mostar complainants affected by the Corridor Vc in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Now the Federation of BIH government, with support from the EU and European public banks, must ensure effective remedy.
Chinese-built Dabar hydropower plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina set to destroy four Emerald and two Ramsar sites
July 31, 2023
If completed, the EUR 338 million project would violate a Recommendation of the Bern Convention No. 217 (2022) and leave tributaries of the Neretva river without water. People living in the Nevesinjsko karst field oppose resettlement and flooding of their houses and land.
Renewable energy permitting in Bosnia and Herzegovina: how to optimise the process while safeguarding the environment and public participation
July 25, 2023
Investors complain about excessive administrative requirements to build wind farms, but the poorly-controlled proliferation of hydropower plants indicates a dearth of environmental and social safeguards. How can sustainable renewables be built quickly enough while protecting nature and ensuring public participation?
Renewable energy permitting in Bosnia and Herzegovina: how to optimise the process while safeguarding the environment and public participation
July 25, 2023
This analysis begins with an overview of the permits required for building renewable energy facilities in the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS).
Comply or Close 2023: five years of deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants
June 28, 2023
The end of 2022 marked five years since new air pollution standards entered into force in the Western Balkans on 1 January 2018. Yet the deadly air pollution from the region’s mostly antiquated coal power plants has hardly decreased at all. In fact, in 2022 it increased compared to 2021 for all three regulated pollutants
The reconstruction of Ukraine: lessons from the post-war recovery in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia
April 14, 2023
This briefing analyses the lessons learned from the post war reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia and how they can be considered during Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Bosnian city to build first solar power plant
February 1, 2023
… “We have decided to build a solar powerplant of 5×12, or 60 megawatts,” said Mayor Mario Kordić. [Shutterstock/ME Image] …
Bosnia and Herzegovina illegally extends lifetimes of deadly coal plants
March 25, 2022
Yesterday the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Parliament voted to extend the lifetime of the antiquated Tuzla 4 and Kakanj 5 coal units, in clear breach of the Energy Community Treaty. The move condemns the public to yet more lethal air pollution.
Open letter to the EBRD and JP Autoceste about the legality of the project-level Spatial Plan of 2017 for the Corridor Vc in the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton
February 21, 2022
The letter requests that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development not sign the loan agreement for the Corridor Vc motorway subsections Mostar North – Mostar South until additional biodiversity baseline studies for the subsection tunnel Kvanj – Buna and alternative route assessments are completed. The letter also presents the conclusions of the discrimination complaint filed by war returnees, as well as the ramifications for the Bank’s rules on vulnerable groups. It asserts that signing the loan for the subsection Mostar North and South should be delayed until additional biodiversity studies and careful consideration of route alternatives are completed, particularly since the Bank’s independent accountability mechanism is about to finalize its recommendations to management in the first half of 2022.