BOSNIAN MINISTER: RUSSIANS INTERESTED IN VC CORRIDOR SECTIONS

SARAJEVO, Oct 8 (Hina) - Bosnia-Herzegovina's Transport Minister Branko Dokic has said that apart from the Croatian government and the private Bosnian-Malaysian company Bosmal, a Russian bank has recently expressed interest in participating in the financing and construction a highway through Bosnia which will be a part of the pan-European Vc road corridor. #L# At a presentation of the project which the non-governmental organisation Krug 99 organised in Sarajevo on Wednesday, Minister Dokic said the Russian offer had been sent to Sarajevo some 10 days ago and that the Council of Ministers had not yet discussed it, which is why he could not give any more details about the offer. Dokic reiterated that Bosmal had not yet met the basic conditions for the resumption of negotiations on being granted the concession for the construction of Bosnian sections of the highway from the Hungarian capital of Budapest to the southern Croatian seaport of Ploce. The company has not yet ensured bank guarantees of 300 million euros for this purpose, but it has another two months to do so, Dokic explained. The minister went on to say that the model of concessions to be granted for construction of the Bosnian section of the Vc corridor remained to be the only feasible solution for the country given that Bosnia could not incur any new debts. The latest feasibility study, which the Japanese government financed in 2000, suggested that the optimum solution is the combination of a full four-lane highway and expressway. Minister Dokic believes that by the end of this year agreement can be reached on the southern connection point of the highway between Croatia and Bosnia. Transport ministers of Hungary, Croatia and Bosnia, who met in Osijek in September, agreed that the northern connection point would be near the town of Donji Svilaj on the banks of the Sava river. (hina) ms