The Concessions Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has requested an extension of the deadline for resolving the dispute over the jurisdiction to issue concessions for the construction of three hydropower plants on the Drina river that the Republic of Srpska (RS) plans to build in cooperation with Serbia, which expires this week.
The deadline set by the Constitutional Court expires at the end of October. The Commission has postponed planned session for the second time and it is not clear whether it will be held at all. The Constitutional Court confirmed that it has received the request for deadline extension, and will decide on it promptly.
In July, the Constitutional Court, deciding on a petition signed by 24 members of the BiH Parliament’s House of Representatives to resolve a dispute between BiH and RS over the HPP project, which will be developed in cooperation with neighboring Serbia, issued a partial decision on admissibility. The Commission was instructed, in its capacity as a joint concessions commission, to resolve any disputes arising in connection with the award of concessions no later than three months from the date of delivery of this decision.
Unofficially, the position of the Republic of Srpska on this issue is quite clear – no one can forbid RS to build a hydropower plant on its territory, and members of the RS Commission will represent such position in talks with the Joint Commission.
The foundation stone for the HPP Buk Bijela project has been laid in May.
