This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
A Chinese company was disqualified from participating in a major infrastructure project in Bosnia-Herzegovina after it submitted false documents and incorrect information in its bid to build a key tunnel in the country’s mountainous south.
Autoceste — the state highway company that vetted contracts for the project — told RFE/RL’s Balkan Service that the Gezhouba Group submitted incorrect and doctored documents in its offer to construct the 11-kilometer Prenj tunnel, a crucial part in the construction of a new highway across the Balkan country of some 3.48 million people.
Few details were provided explaining why the Wuhan-based firm was excluded except for a document from Autoceste seen by RFE/RL that says the entity did not give valid documentation and that its bid was determined to be fraudulent after being checked by the highway company.
Gezhouba Group did not respond to RFE/RL’s request for comment about the bid was disqualified and the allegations that it included falsified information. Autoceste told RFE/RL that the Chinese firm has not previously participated in Bosnian projects and is now blacklisted from doing so in the future.
But the Gezhouba Group is active in Bosnia’s predominantly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, where it is building a hydroelectric plant.
In addition to the Gezhouba Group, a Turkish construction company was also disqualified after it submitted falsified documents in its bid.
The Prenj tunnel is considered vital for Bosnia’s transportation infrastructure and will greatly reduce travel time for goods and tourists in the southern part of the country. Officials say the engineering needed for the tunnel makes it one of the most complicated projects ever carried out in Bosnia.
Seval Kovacevic, a traffic-engineering expert who has worked on infrastructure projects in Bosnia, says the planned tunnel is a “project of the century” for the Balkan country and will require specialized engineering experience that Bosnian companies do not have.
“Bosnia-Herzegovina does not have large enough or experienced enough companies to work on something of this scale,” Kovacevic told RFE/RL. “At most they will be able to work as subcontractors for some parts of the project.”
Bidding For Bosnia’s ‘Project Of The Century’
The tender process has been open since September 2022 and the disqualified bids came after eight offers were received to build the tunnel.
Among them was another from a Chinese company, an Indian company, three from Turkish companies in addition to the disqualified Ozaltin Insaat Ticaret ve Sanayi, and two joint-bids from Turkish and South Korean consortiums.
According to Autoceste, three companies have been shortlisted for the contract, although it would not say which bids were selected.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which is providing the loan to build the tunnel, told RFE/RL that the list of the final three companies selected is “confidential.”
In addition to the tunnel, which is slated to cost $270 million, the EBRD also awarded a $105 million loan to Bosnia to construct priority parts of the cross-country highway. That will include 60 kilometers of road and the Prenj tunnel that are slated for completion by 2028.
The revitalized road and new projects are part of a large undertaking to improve transport in Bosnia with a new highway system called Corridor Vc, which aims to connect the country’s southern and northern parts.
Construction Obstacles Ahead
A team of 50 experts from Austria and Slovenia is currently working on the design of the Prenj tunnel and evaluating the best way to meet the project’s safety, ventilation, traffic, and hydrogeology needs.
Experts in the country have warned that the tunnel will face construction problems that could leave it behind schedule.
“Ignorance about the geological conditions on the [highway] route, on which the tunnel will be built, could lead to major problems — such as groundwater — that could prevent construction,” Mehmed Bublin, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Sarajevo, told RFE/RL.
Environmental groups have also warned that the government has not sufficiently examined hydrological and geological problems that may arise in building the tunnel.
At a public hearing in May, experts cautioned that other planned tunnels along Corridor Vc could face similar obstacles and called for additional studies about the impact of such large-scale projects.
