Mine/UXO Clearance

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Mine Action Program

What follows is the Executive Summary of a comprehensive study into performance and cost effectiveness of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Mine Action Program. It is based on the operational clearance work of all organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina from late 1996 to December 2000. The cost effectiveness of commercial demining and in particular the amount of work that RONCO and its national partners have accomplished is clearly illustrated.

Executive Summary

Throughout the Balkans, mine and UXO clearance programs are undertaken by a wide variety of organizations, including Civil Protection Organisations, national and international military contingents, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and commercial companies. In assessing program effectiveness, it is abundantly clear that commercial companies have been the most productive and cost effective of all organisations. This is graphically illustrated by the results of the BiH program.

In BiH the commercial companies, with an estimated 20 percent of the workforce completed more than 74 percent of all clearance work and removed 71 percent of all mines. Their average cost, over the four year period 1996-2000, on a variety of sites and conditions, is approximately 3.5 Deutchmarks per square metre, or US $ 1.59*.

Of this impressive commercial total, the RONCO Consulting Corporation (RONCO) and its national partners have completed no less than 34 percent of the clearance and destroyed 29 percent of the mines (both Anti Personnel or AP and Anti Tank or AT). This is by far the largest single contribution of any organization, including that of the combined workforce of all the non-commercial organizations (Entity Armies, Civil Protection**, the UN and the national and international NGOs).

RONCO, one of the largest and most effective commercial companies in the world, generally recruits national ex-military personnel and trains them in the disciplines and skills required by international and national standards for mine and UXO clearance. This includes mine clearance, EOD, explosives detecting dog handlers, inspectors, monitors, database managers, as well as senior and junior program management personnel.

RONCO was selected as the implementing agency for the U.S. Department of State program that began in BiH in 1996. They were mandated to train and equip the military demining contingents and to establish and develop the national commercial demining capacity. They were also responsible for introducing Explosives Detecting Dog (EDD) technology to the Balkans. The use of EDDs has developed to such an extent that it is now widely acknowledged that this program leads the world in the accreditation and use of EDD teams.

Since 1996, RONCO has been active in the Balkans region and utilized effective partnerships to undertake tasks in BiH, Croatia, Kosovo, Albania, and Macedonia. RONCO has also provided the opportunity for dog handlers to obtain experience working in Africa over the last winter period. Providing skilled clearance teams to assist in the initial stages of newly established mine clearance programs promotes the rapid transfer of knowledge and experience.

*The cost per metre will vary from country to country due to the variations in salary and overhead costs.

**The Civil Protection organisation roughly equates to the National Guard.