We will sooner see flying taxis taking to the skies above Belgrade than subway trains running through the tunnels underneath its streets. This was confirmed to us by caretaker ministers Siniša Mali and Goran Vesić, the “two person rowing team with a coxswain” who ran the capital city not so long ago, during their visit to Makiško Polje.
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If the Progressives had hired four workers back in 2016, the year when the construction was scheduled to begin, and given them spades, pickaxes and shovels, they would have dug at least two kilometers of the tunnels by now. As that was not the case, the citizens, who have already chosen the look of the trains on the City’s website, can just sit and wait for the new postponement. So far we have reached the year 2028, “2029 at the latest”. Because happiness and subway are only beautiful while you are waiting for them.
Media reports about the delay in the subway construction, pleasant weather, campaign for the repeated elections, or perhaps all of the above, brought the caretaker ministers Siniša Mali and Goran Vesić to Makiš on Friday (April 12th). In the spring heat, the minister in charge of the state treasury once again told a fairytale for the grown-ups. At its happy ending, the voters will welcome the train, just like a princess welcomes a prince. In the latest version of the tale, the train will screech to a halt on the brand new rails at the underground station in the abovementioned “2028, 2029 at the latest”. We are talking about the famous first line. The construction of the train depot, for which the cornerstone was laid in 2021, will only start next year, but the preparatory works will be completed six months ahead of schedule. If you are having trouble understanding the previous sentence, it is because it doesn’t make sense. “Annex I” of the contractual agreement was signed, Mali thanked the Chinese workers for their dedication, called attention to Đilas and his 619 millions, pointed to the hatred for the president… You know, the things that officials say at the end of a press conference. And finally, just like in the story about the boy who cried “Wolf!” when there was no wolf around, alarming the village for no reason, nobody believes Siniša Mali any more when he says “the construction of the subway will begin on…”.
Subway is a worn-out wild card of the government in their election campaigns for the capital city, but it is still used in place of any other promise. Let us remember the 2018 election campaign when Aja Jung, a ballerina who joined the Progressives’ campaign, handed out tickets for the subway that doesn’t exist, noting that the subway would help the citizens of Belgrade get to the cultural institutions more easily. The only thing missing was the then city official Goran Vesić to sprint, with all his baggage, into the wall of the Vukov Spomenik underground railway station, with the sign of the magical platform “Nine and three quarters”, just like Harry Potter in the first part of the movie franchise. Only that on the other side, instead of the Hogwarts Express, Vesić would see a modern underground train and stations filled with people making videos for Tiktok.
TANJUG / DRAGAN KUJUNDZIĆ
The underground railway has been mentioned in the capital city’s general urban plan ever since 1950’s. The first designs were drawn in the late 1970’s. In early 1980’s, a small percentage was being taken out of the Belgraders’ salaries as contribution for the construction, and in 1995, Slobodan Milošević ceremonially opened the Vukov Spomenik underground station where the passengers would be going in and out of subway trains, some day. Mayor Nenad Bogdanović envisaged that the first phase of the subway construction would be completed by the end of 2008. His successor at the Belgrade City Assembly, Dragan Đilas, had the members of the Democratic Party’s youth organization follow him around and hold up billboards with the plans, and announced that subway was “the most important development project in Belgrade”, but nothing came of it. The Democrats lost power and the new head of the city Siniša Mali formed the “Working group for Belgrade Metro” in 2014, announcing that the construction would begin in 2016. And then in 2017. At the end of 2018, Mali then corrected himself. In the year 2019, 2020 at the latest, the digging will begin, Mali announced. Known for his optimism, the finance minister even claimed that Belgrade would have its first metro line by 2022. And so, announcement by announcement, we have now reached 2029.
Why is one of the most important projects in Belgrade constantly postponed? Putting aside the colossal nature of the undertaking, the crediting, the financial, health and security crises around the world. Let’s forget for a moment the national stadium and the international EXPO – they are not the reason why the construction was delayed for years. The current government has shown that when they really decide to do something, they do it. In the end, the project usually exceeds the budget and the deadlines, but it gets completed. Then what is the issue with Metro? This may sound silly, but maybe the reason is that it is underground. Because you cannot see it. Here’s an example: the only thing that most Belgraders can buy in the Belgrade Waterfront is a coffee to go. Nevertheless, while they are braving the horror of public transport during rush hour, crossing the Brankov or Gazela Bridge to reach the other bank, through the greased windows of the crowded 84 bus they can clearly see that the residential area for the new elite is growing day by day. In the mind of the modern precarious worker on the bus, plagued with loan instalments, utility bills, children’s school trips and the seaside vacation that will not happen this year again, for a moment, a thought flashes – see, Belgrade is being built. Maybe it is being built, but not for him. The construction of a subway would free our passenger from the everyday standing on one foot and the sweaty armpits being shoved into his face by his fellow passengers hanging onto bars. The problem is that the government is flaunting the projects that can actually make the Belgraders’ lives easier only during election campaigns, and then postponing them as soon as the polls are closed.
What could be more important for the government than making sure that most residents of Belgrade can move normally from point A to point B, in a city that is becoming home to thousands of new people every month? It’s visual sensations. As people would say, easy distractions. Shiny tinfoil that diverts the attention from the essence – that the public transport in Belgrade and traffic in general, under pressure from the increasing population, is barely functioning. Instead of having the citizens travelling by underground train that doesn’t wait at intersections and traffic lights and can’t be stopped by a car parked on the rails, up there on the surface, while they are stuck in the Slavija roundabout, they can enjoy the fountain. While waiting to join the traffic in Nemanjina Street at the new Savski Square, there is a 23-meter tall Stefan Nemanja watching them. The paving stones in Skadarlija are now even older and safe for walking in high heels, and the façades in the center have a fresh new coat of paint. Who cares if emergency teams can’t reach those buildings because of the traffic jams, and who cares if elevators in them are out of order. God forbid there’s a fire – there are cars parked wherever there’s place, “just for a couple of minutes”. Those are the situations where people’s lives are at stake, and the construction of an underground railway would make a great impact. It’s not just about getting home from work faster. It’s nice to have fountains, monuments to the greats, and fresh façades, but it is even nicer to take care of people.
Architect Bojan Kovačević tells NIN that he has learnt an important thing from his late colleague Branislav Jovin, who was the chief design engineer for the Belgrade Metro project in the 1970’s: the construction of a subway system is never finished, because the subway network is constantly expanded and upgraded, everywhere in the world.
“We are not talking about a project that would be started and completed. It is important to emphasize this, because the public is under the impression that it is something that has to be started, that has to be built, and then that’s it. No. Just a few years ago, the two hundredth station in the subway network was opened in Moscow,” Kovačević explains.
TANJUG / Filip Krainčanić
He adds that during his visits to Vienna, for example, he noticed that there was a subway line that was designed, but not yet constructed, because it was estimated that there was not enough traffic to support the new line. Architect Kovačević claims that the topic of subway among the local public is often mixed with uncertainty and insufficient information.
“The options involving different corridors, lines and stations are used more in quarrels than in actual professional discussions. The funniest thing is that the political parties don’t have their representatives among the professionals who argue with each other about the options, but the politicians themselves do the talking and comment on things. It is very bad, even tragic, I have to say,” says Kovačević.
Nikola Jovanović, chairman of the Center for Local Government, points out that the construction work for the Makiš depot was supposed to start in November 2022, but it hasn’t started yet. This means that, according to the official schedule, presented by minister Siniša Mali in November 2021, at the beginning of Makiško Polje filling works, the delay is 17 months.
“The Center for Local Government has informed the public on more than one occasion about the repeated changes to the regulatory plans for the subway, about the lack of funds in the state and Belgrade budgets for this project, and about the government’s loss of interest in the subway, and turning their attention to other priorities such as the EXPO 2027 and the expansion of the Belgrade Waterfront. It is ridiculous to allow such a delay in the most important infrastructural project in the Serbian capital, and for the government to keep quiet about it and not offer any reasons for the delay,” Jovanović says.
PROFIMEDIA / Adam Radosavljevic / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
He urges minister Mali to, as he says, stop making fools of us with the stories about flying taxis and tell the citizens of Belgrade why the depot construction hasn’t started in November 2022, as he himself has announced.
“He is also obliged to answer if Belgraders would be riding on the subway in 2028, which he also promised and guaranteed personally on several occasions,” says Jovanović.
We often hear that the politicians count the time from the day when they came to power. As if nothing had existed before them and as if, when they go away some day, the entire Serbia would fall into the Earth’s core and disintegrate. Once they seize power, they only mention the past to point out the unfulfilled promises of their predecessors, the problems and the work left for them to finish. Their own unfulfilled promises from a more recent past are mentioned in new campaigns as the inevitable stages before the beginning of works, which is just around the corner. That is why there is no doubt that the first line of the Belgrade Metro, whenever it is completed, will be put into operation ahead of schedule. Ever since the introduction of the multy-party system, neither the media, nor a well-designed campaign based on daily opinion polls, nor even capillary votes, were decisive for winning elections. Elections are won thanks to the voters’ short memory.