Public roads in the opening of forests in forest management units of Sarajevo canton

Abstract

The primary network of forest roads consists of public and forest truck roads. Public roads in one forest area have been mainly built due to needs of local communities, access to rural areas, the development of tourism, recreation and so on. Forest truck roads have been built and maintained by those who manage forests (the forest management), while public roads have been managed by the Directorate for Roads of the Federation of B&H and cantonal and local governments. In the last twenty years, the sector for wood assortments transport in the Federation of B&H is in charge of the private transport operators which use vehicles of large capacities and high axle loads for the purpose of transport of as large as possible quantities of wooden mass per time unit. Due to this fact, the roads have deteriorated faster. The accelerated deterioration of the roads used for the transport of wooden assortments imposes the need for the allocation of larger funds for their maintenance. Due to the increasing damages on the roads the prohibitions of use of some public roads for wooden assortments transport occur more frequently. The aim of the research is to determine the total length of public roads which open Forest Management Units of Sarajevo Canton (FMU of SC) and to investigate the possibility of using these categories of roads for forestry. For examination and analysis possibilities of using public roads for wooden assortments transport qualitative research - polls methods have been applied within the framework of the key representatives of the target groups such as forestry and the local community. In the questionnaire, two sets of questions were specified, the first one which is designed to determine the possible existence of problems of using public roads for transport of wooden assortments and possible causes of occurrence of the problems. The second group of questions gives some of the possible solutions for solving the problems of using public roads for the purpose of transport of wood assortments. The results of the survey show that the share of public roads for opening forest truck roads of Canton Sarajevo amounts 44.94%. The given results illustrate that the cases of prohibition of use of public roads for wood assortments transport are rare. The largest proportion of respondents (65%) pleaded that there are no problems (conditions) for using public roads within their territory. A share of 32% of respondents said that there are some requirements for the use of public roads for the transport of wood assortments in their territory and those are mostly demands that FMU covers the costs of maintenance of these roads. A share of 58% of respondents gave the answer that those requirements originate from self-organized groups of citizens. A share of 42% of respondents gave the answer that these requirements originate from the local community (municipalities and lower levels). In the second group of questions, where the proposal for resolving the problems of wood assortments transport in case of inability of use the existing public roads have been given the majority of respondents consider that the solution of problem is making agreement on the mode of usage and application of more control of axle loads of truck which transport wood assortments by public roads. The general conclusion of the research is that the undisturbed use of public roads for forestry needs is possible only with more consideration of the legal guidelines and with continuous agreements of all stakeholders accompanied by constant control.