Bosnia, Serbia sign agreements for border crossing construction, bridges maintenance

Under the agreements, Serbia will be responsible for the maintenance of six bridges and Bosnia will be in charge of five, Bosnia's transport ministry said in a press release on Friday.

The maintenance of the five bridges will cost Bosnia 850,000 marka ($510,000/436,000 euro) annually.

In April, Bosnian company Enikon Gradnja launched the construction of the Bratunac-Ljubovija border crossing worth 14.5 million marka. The border crossing over the Drina riverwill spread over 30,000 square metres.

According to the initial plans, the border crossing was due to open to traffic in 2019.

Serbia has completed the construction of the 227-metre Bratoljub bridge over the river Drina and the access roads to the facility on its territory in 2017, while Bosnia's Serb Republic entity has built the access roads on its side.

According to earlier media reports, the launch of the construction works was delayed because Bosnia had provided only 7.5 million marka for the project before the country's council of ministers raised the estimated costs to 14.5 million marka from 11 million marka in December.

The bridge links Bosnia's Bratunac with Ljubovija on the Serbian side.

The Serb Republic is one of two autonomous entities forming Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other one is the Muslim-Croat Federation.

(1 euro = 1.95583 marka)