The offer sounds simple: a piece of land surrounded by forests and hills, the issuance of quick permits, and the promise of a future villa whose value will likely multiply in coming years. Promotional videos show green valleys, and quiet villages. But the reality on the ground often looks very different.
Investigative findings point to a systematic business model. Companies first buy agricultural and forest land from local residents or other companies. The land is then divided into smaller plots, cleared of trees and marketed to Gulf buyers as construction land.
At the point of sale, prices can rise multiple times compared to what the companies originally paid.
Buyers are frequently told they can build houses or villas after quick local permitting procedures are done. In many cases, however, spatial plans do not allow for construction on these plots at all. Building permits are hence not issued, and the land legally remains agricultural or forest land.
On the ground, there are often no buildings, no infrastructure and no construction permits - only empty clearings where forests once stood.
For such destruction without permit, a Gulf-owned company has been charged in two separate indictments for the illegal clear-cutting of nearly 30 football fields of forest in Visoko.
The deforestation has caused serious damage to biodiversity, endangered the forest’s survival and ecological role, and resulted in tens of thousands Euros of damages.
Meanwhile, the companies selling the once forested land to Arab buyers, promote the projects on social media with idyllic photos of Bosnian landscapes. At the same time, forests in the same areas are being cut down and pawed paths create the impression that development is already underway.
Among buyers, frustration is growing.
On social media pages connected to the company's projects, Kuwaiti investors, who buy the land of the Bosnian companies offering them for sale, increasingly warn each other about the risks. One recurring message appears again and again: “The land itself is cheap - but construction is the real problem”.
Lawyers in Kuwait have also begun raising alarms. They warn that agricultural land and forests in Bosnia and Herzegovina are being marketed under the misleading label of “residential land”. Our investigation found a court case where a judge ordered companies or their associates, including social media promoters, to return money to buyers along with compensation.
The issue has reached the attention of other authorities in Kuwait. In 2024, the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a warning stating that real estate advertisements must contain accurate and complete information, the owner’s consent and all necessary permits. Concealing defects that affect the value of a property is explicitly prohibited.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, laws and procedures add another layer of complexity. Foreign citizens cannot directly own land, except in cases where reciprocity agreements between countries allow it. To bypass this restriction, companies often register the land in their own names and offer buyers alternative arrangements - such as waiver agreements or the creation of a Bosnian company.
Many buyers decline these options because they appear complicated and costly.
The company that was investigated promised a quick solution: building permits within a month and a sharp increase in land value once Bosnia and Herzegovina joins the European Union.
Years later, however, many of these locations remain unchanged. What remains on the ground are empty plots, newly cleared forest areas and frustrated buyers.
Photo by Detektor.ba
