Bosnia Says Its Y2K Preparations Satisfactory

Updated 10:03 AM ET October 1, 1999

By Nedim Dervisbegovic

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia should not face serious millennium bug problems despite being rated as a medium- to high-risk Y2K country by the United States, according to the government commission tasked with sorting out the computer bug.

"There will be problems but...we are not anticipating major disruptions," Adnan Hadrovic of the government's Y2K commission told Reuters this week.

The State Department said last month in its report on global Y2K readiness that "there is a moderate-to-high risk of disruption in electric power, health care, government, and social services sectors" in Bosnia.

"Information is not available to judge the scope and duration of these disruptions," the report said. It also said that "there is a high risk of potential disruption in key sectors, including telecommunications, banking, and finance."

But Hadrovic said that the banking sector, aviation, telecommunications and state institutions were either almost fully compliant or are undertaking measures to reach that level.

Sarajevo-based telecoms operator PTTBIH, for example, is roughly 90 percent ready both in the fields of fixed and mobile phones thanks to newly-installed equipment from Sweden's Ericsson, he added.

Airspace control and the country's four international airports are either fully operated or supervised by the NATO-led peacekeeping force in place since the 1992-95 war and which has reportedly installed new equipment.

The U.N.-affiliated International Civil Aviation Organization listed Bosnia last month among 35 countries, mostly with limited aviation networks, which have not submitted Y2K preparedness information.

Hadrovic also said the power supply system was not a matter of concern as pre-war equipment and software are mostly not Y2K-sensitive, while the railway system operates on a low level of Y2K sensitivity and mostly locally.

HEALTH SYSTEM, SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESSES AT RISK

However, the health system remains a concern because of a lack of skilled people capable of tackling the Y2K bug and because of large quantities of medical equipment donated after the war, which is either outdated or lacking documentation, Hadrovic said.

Another area of concern is small- and medium size-companies which are "somehow left on their own," commission member Edin Omorika said. "We are trying to help them bridge the problem, although it is not our primary task."

The Y2K bug stems from the use of two digits to represent years in older computer systems. Unless fixed, computers might read 00 as 1900 instead of 2000, causing computers to crash.

Omorika added that the World Bank and other international agencies overseeing the country's $5.1 billion post-war recovery are expected to become more engaged in solving the problem.

Bosnia's Y2K commission, set up in May this year with the World Bank's help, is primarily concerned with gathering information and recommending solutions.

It is expected by November 10 to produce a final report on the level of Y2K preparedness of the country, which consists of two autonomous entities -- a Muslim-Croat federation and a Serb republic.

Hadrovic said the war left the country at a level equivalent to the late-1980s in terms of computer technology.

In addition, public institutions and businesses got used to alternative ways of conducting their activities.

"They literally did things manually...so the whole country is still not too dependent on them (computers)," Hadrovic said.

====================================== End <

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), October 01, 1999