Chinese state-owned companies dominate public procurement in BiH

Bosnia and Herzegovina distributes billions of KM of public money through public procurement every year, and the largest contracts in the last seven years have been awarded to Chinese construction companies.

According to data from the Integrity Watch BiH platform, of the ten largest tenders awarded in the period from 2019 to 2025, four ended up in the hands of local state consortiums, and their total value is 1.45 billion KM. Interestingly, all three contracts are being implemented on the territory of Republika Srpska.

The most valuable contract, worth 654,470,307.32 KM, was awarded to the China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC). In December last year, they signed a contract with the “Autoputevi Republika Srpska” for the financing, design and construction of the 31.5-kilometer section of the Vukosavlje – Brčko highway.

However, the project has been accompanied by serious controversies from the very beginning. In addition to public criticism that the price of over 20 million KM for a kilometer of highway through flat terrain is too high, the problem is also the fact that officials still do not have a solution for the route through the Brčko District.

In parallel with this part of the highway, the design and construction of the Brčko - Bijeljina section was contracted, which is the third most valuable tender with Chinese companies in the last few years. The company "China Overseas Engineering Group" won a tender worth 274,668,800 KM for the 17-kilometer section, and the deadline for completion of the works is 60 months.

In addition to these two related tenders, the Republika Srpska awarded the third to a branch of the Chinese company "CGGC", which chose Tuzla as its headquarters in BiH. This is a contract worth 435,825,657 KM signed in February 2023 for the financing and construction of the "Dabar" hydroelectric power plant.

However, according to media reports, this project is currently in a kind of blockade. The Chinese state-owned Exim Bank has temporarily suspended financing and frozen credit tranches because the domestic side did not complete the key feeder tunnel on time, which was a strict contractual condition. Due to the interruption of the flow of money, the Chinese construction giant has withdrawn most of the workers and machinery from the construction site, leaving only the minimum for maintenance.

In addition to the delays, the project is also burdened by difficult negotiations over debts worth millions to domestic subcontractors, demands from the Chinese side to increase prices due to inflation, as well as sharp protests from environmental associations that warn of the destruction of the Neretva River basin.

In addition, it is worth mentioning the 88.5 million-mark tender for the construction of a hospital in Doboj that the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of Republika Srpska awarded to the Chinese "Sinpoharm" in 2019.

The relevant ministry has annexed the basic contract with this company several times, extending the construction deadline and increasing the value of the contract.

Chinese companies will certainly expand their presence in Republika Srpska in the future. This is supported by the fact that the Minister of Energy and Mining, Petar Đokić, paid a multi-day visit to this country, where he held a series of meetings with representatives of state-owned companies, and the discussions were mainly focused on future investments in this part of BiH.

"Interpromet" from Novi Grad, domestic supplier No. 1

When it comes to domestic suppliers, the most valuable tenders were won by the company "Interpromet" from Novi Grad, which deals with wholesale trade in pharmaceuticals. Data from the Integrity Watch BiH platform shows that by the end of 2025 they had won contracts worth nearly 370 million marks.

Their main partner is the Health Insurance Fund of the Republic of Srpska, to which they have delivered goods worth 330 million marks in seven years, 65 million of which in the last year alone. This cooperation brought the owner of "Interpromet" Dragan Pilipović a record profit in 2025 of 6.9 million marks and the highest turnover since its establishment, which amounted to 172.8 million marks.

The company "Integral inženjering" from Laktaši is fifth in terms of the total value of tenders for the period 2019–2025. The value of their contracts concluded with public companies is 292.5 million marks, and they were mainly contracted with the aforementioned "Autoputevi Republika Srpska". They won the largest tender in March 2022 for the design and construction of the Bijeljina - Rača highway section, and its value is 258.2 million KM.

Sarajevo-based Hifa Petrol has received contracts worth over 290 million KM from state-owned companies by the end of 2025. Their main partner is the Banovići Brown Coal Mine, to which they have supplied fuel worth over 60 million KM. They are also a significant supplier to the Đurđevik Brown Coal Mine, with a total value of contracts concluded of 22.3 million KM.

The company "Lager" from Posušje also bases a good part of its business on the state, namely the Electric Power Company of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In seven years, they have concluded deals worth "heavy" 265.6 million KM, the largest of which was in 2022 when it was agreed to deliver 600,000 tons of brown coal for the needs of thermal power plants in Tuzla and Kakanj. Based on that deal alone, they earned 105.2 million KM.

Who distributes the most public money?

In general, the largest contracting authority in BiH is the "Electric Power Company of BiH", which has distributed tenders worth around 1.5 billion KM since 2019. Behind them is "Autoputevi RS" with tenders worth 1.3 billion KM, while in third place is the Health Insurance Fund of Republika Srpska, whose public procurement value is close to 900 million KM.

Incidentally, what is interesting, and what the Integrity Watch BiH database shows, is that 77.1 percent of tenders were contracted by direct agreement, which is otherwise the most non-transparent legal procedure. The number of procedures is growing year by year, and in 2025 there were a record 205,534. For example, in 2019, 142,911 tenders were conducted.

This is just part of the data that is publicly available on the Integrity Watch BiH website. It records companies that win public tenders, contract values ​​and procedures, tenders awarded to companies associated with public officials, and other indicators of risk in spending public money.

What sets the Integrity Watch BiH platform apart is its exceptional interactivity and ease of use, which allows citizens and investigative journalists to "expose" the spending of public money in just a few clicks.

Through visually clear graphs, advanced filters and searchable databases, users can cross-reference data on contracting authorities, top performers and types of procedures in real time.