Progress on the Southern Gas Interconnection project between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia remains uncertain, as several key administrative and legal steps required for implementation have still not been completed. A 30-day deadline, which expired on 25 May, had been set for signing an agreement between the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the US-based company AAFS, but unresolved issues continue to slow down the process.
The agreement is expected to address a range of outstanding matters, including procedures related to obtaining urban planning permits. However, significant uncertainties remain, particularly regarding the treatment of state property issues, which continue to complicate the approval process.
According to available information, the government commission responsible for technical assessments related to urban planning approval for the interconnection pipeline has still not submitted the required expert documentation to the Federal Parliament. This delay represents a key bottleneck in the institutional approval chain.
Another major obstacle is the still-unratified interstate agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, which is considered a fundamental precondition for further project development. Without this agreement, the legal basis for advancing the pipeline remains incomplete.
At the same time, institutions involved in the process have reportedly not received formal requests to amend project documentation that would remove BH-Gas from the initiative and officially designate AAFS as the new project operator. This institutional ambiguity further complicates governance and project ownership clarity.
The combination of pending administrative tasks, unresolved legal questions, and ongoing political procedures has created significant uncertainty regarding whether the contract can be finalized within the expected timeframe or whether additional delays will be unavoidable.
Given the current pace of preparations and incomplete regulatory procedures, earlier expectations that construction of the pipeline could be completed by the end of 2027 now appear increasingly difficult to achieve.
