Trebinje awaits airport
Trebinje, located in Republika Srpska in southern Bosnia and Herzegovina received the all clear from the government on Thursday for the construction of a new airport, which will be the second, after Banja Luka, in the entity and the fifth international airport in the country.On Thursday the Government of Republika Srpska approved funds and allocated 1.6 million Convertible Bosnian Marks (820.000 Euros) for the Trebinje Airport project documentation. The airport is expected to be operational by 2011. The Prime Minister, Milorad Dodik, said that building an airport in Trebinje is one of the strategic projects of his government. He expects the construction of a 2.6 kilometre runway to begin in the spring of 2010. The Government plans to seek a strategic partner for the project.
A future concession holder will be expected to build the runway and accompanying facilities, and create conditions for normal operation. Trebinje Airport CEO Zoran Okilj said the airport will initially have a capacity of 250.000 passengers on an annual basis, while the number will grow to 1 million by the time the project is completely finalized. Trebinje will welcome all low cost operators, he says.
Earlier this year the Austrian based consulting firm “Airport Consulting Vienna” carried out a feasibility study regarding the economic viability of Trebinje Airport which is being built so close to Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia and Tivat Airport in Montenegro. The results of the study show that Trebinje could become a major rival to the other two well established airports. The report states that Trebinje should strive to attract low cost carriers. The report also states that while the airport might not be able to turn a profit in the first few years of operation it could become an extremely competitive airport within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Due to its natural beauty, Trebinje could attract sizeable amounts of tourists. Bosnia and Herzegovina currently has a total of 4 international airports – Sarajevo, Mostar, Tuzla and Banja Luka.
Yes, let's go ahead and build this because Bosnia desperately needs ANOTHER white elephant project...
ReplyDeleteLet's get serious about the country for a minute:
- high unemployment
- political chaos and inefficiency
- low % of population flying
- low wages
- 4 existing, well-spaced airports (SJJ, BNX, OMO, TZL)
The country already has two airports which promised similar figures, and are sitting there unused. OMO isn't that bad a facility and 50% larger than Trebinje, but can't manage regular flights. Why? And we all know what a disaster TZL has been since opening - just wait to see those flights to IST cancelled due to low numbers...
This new airport will never be seen as a serious alternative (low-cost or whatever) to both DBV and TIV as it is too close to these already-established, seaside resorts.
This is why democracy will never work in its current form in BiH - too many layers wasting money that should be put into getting the country back on its feet.
If the Government of Republika Srpska can find an investor that wants to build the airport based on a concession, as far as I'm concerned it's a win-win situation. Just like the construction of the Herceg Novi-Trebinje road based on a concession also was a win-win situation -- it didn't cost the taxpayers any money, yet now it is an easy (and safe) drive from H. Novi to Trebinje. My hats off to the Government of the RS if they pull this one off - it sounds very promising.
ReplyDeleteI agree this is a good and potential project! I think there ar a lot of people who want to see RS fail. This is a good way for RS to be more independant than the backward Federation.
ReplyDeleteIf they offer smaller taxes than Tivat and Dubrovnik then I dont see why airlines would not chose them! Plus from what I read the road is good to the airport so..
Best of luck!
@ frequentflyer
ReplyDeleteSpot on!
@ 2nd Anonymous
What do you mean 'backward' Federation?
I have a feeling that they Republika Srpska is about to get its Mirabel Airport.
ReplyDeleteFolly has no end.
ReplyDeleteMoney is coming from TPG...who does not know what TPG is please check the Net...let us say, Ryanair, in between other of their investments...
ReplyDeleteBackward federation I mean a Federation that is so concentrated on seeing RS fail that they forget to deal with their own local problems more efficiently. Like it or not the standard of living in the RS is higher, which means they gotta be doing something right, and if the federation spent some more time on dealing with it's problems then they might have more positive results.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am sure RS wouldn't be throwing away money just like that, and like Anonymous said, apparently there is more to this than we know...
I believe this a great project for RS. It's far from a stupid idea. First, it will create jobs that Bosnia desesperately needs, and it will put Trebinje on the map. It will increase tourism in BiH, but most importantly it will be profitable. Good luck RS, good luck Trebinje.
ReplyDelete3 airports within 50 km range??? Come on folks, let's be realistic. This is not New York City and like frequentflyer said it's just another white elephant project. Instead of building this airport, it would have more sense to build better roads and railway system that screams for help.
ReplyDeleteYes I can see why some people think this is not good idea, and country should give them money directly into their hands ,instead of buildig project like this becouse on the end they will have to get a job there and acually work 8-12 H a day to earn $ ,instead drinking coffe all day and cring that Goverment is corupted and evrething is a big scam.I hope this will work ,great project and everthing that comes with it.Good luck
ReplyDeleteBuilding Trebinje airport as consecssion? Who wants to invest?
ReplyDeleteJust like the road from Herceq-Novi to Trebinje, what a bad road, curves etc, and final you have to pay 3 Euros right before you enter the border with RS!
The road from Trebinje to Dubrovnik is much shorter, is no toll road, and sure and fast, why to built a next airport for whom? Even Dub airport is not full utilized.
First let us built good roads in Bosnia which everybody may use without being stopped to pay road toll, we are not living in the middle ages any more.