There is a theory that the universe is constantly expanding and that galaxies are constantly moving away from each other. But, that is only a theory. In practice, especially in the capital of Serbia, things are much clearer and more perceptible: “Belgrade Waterfront” is constantly expanding, right before our eyes, and at the same time, it is constantly moving away from the people of Belgrade and the concept of the capital city as an effective urban environment with its own history and dynamics of development.
11.04.
2024.
Šapić has decided that the lives and works of Slađana Milošević and Tomislav Peternek did not earn them the right to be buried in the Alley.
15.02.
2024.
Is the “Leap into the future - Serbia EXPO 2027” program really a leap into the future or a plunge into debt slavery?
25.01.
2024.
Why wouldn’t officials abandon the idea of unchecked urbanisation of the Zlatar mountain and embrace sustainable tourism instead?
The Government of Serbia proposed, and who could refuse such a well-meaning proposal, that the area covered by the “Belgrade Waterfront” should be literally tripled. Originally, one hundred hectares of public land in the Sava Amphitheater was given away to a private investor from the Emirates. In the meantime, square footage prices have increased significantly, and so did the appetites. That is why reinforced concrete will be poured over another 327 hectares of land in the city municipalities of Stari Grad, Čukarica, Savski venac, and the “project of national importance” will bite into a good part of Novi Beograd as well.
The one by the river, of course. Specifically, the wave of new urbanism will flood the Belgrade Fair, the Novi Beograd’s river bank, and the plots near the Mostar highway loop all the way to the Hippodrome. The racecourse is still resisting, but the newly drawn boundaries of “Eagle Hills” are closing in rapidly from three directions. If the Hippodrome falls, Ada Ciganlija is next. Who wouldn’t like to live in Belgrade and wake up by the lake? The stretch from the Sava Square to the Drinska Street, as well as the plots near the Branko’s Bridge, will also have to undergo esthetic corrections.
This is it for now. Should we be afraid that, in a few years from now, the authorities will hit us with the famous telemarketing line: “But wait, there’s more...”? Because, why would they stop now?
A sentence in the plan, causing even a hardened nihilist to smirk incredulously, is that it is necessary to prepare a “study of the preservation of immovable cultural property”. The upcoming EXPO 2027 was a stroke of luck for the government, an ideal excuse for the Belgrade Fair, an ensemble of buildings with cultural heritage value, to be demolished and “rebuilt” in Surčin. Only Hall 1 would not be levelled to the ground. Some say that it is because it is under state protection, while others say that the reason is to appease the public. Having in mind that the Hall is protected by the state, some might say that it cannot be ruled out that its structure would be damaged by the construction works in the vicinity. And then it would be declared unsafe and therefore demolished.
Expansion of a metropolis along its edges, where there is room, and where the communal and traffic infrastructure can keep up with the dynamics of construction, makes sense. On the other hand, cramming 20-story buildings into a site that is bordered by the river on the one side, and urban neighborhoods on the other, only makes sense in terms of private profit. Drawing tens of thousands of new residents who will have no other choice but to use the existing roads, which are already struggling to withstand the current flow of traffic, will most certainly cause a permanent traffic jam and paralysis of a large part of Belgrade. The subway, if it is ever built, will only solve a small part of the problem, considering that, frankly, those who can afford to live in the “Belgrade Waterfront” rarely use public transport. Let’s not forget sewer lines. Belgrade is the only European capital where the largest share of wastewater is released directly into rivers. Fun fact: tens of thousands of future residents of these modern buildings will also use the bathroom. The residential area is right by the river, so we can only imagine how long the sewer lines would be. A morning walk along the promenade could soon be permeated with a recognizable unpleasant smell.
From the initial idea, everything related to this project was done with the disapproval of the opposition and a part of the public. Ever since the “lex specialis” on the “determination of public interest” and “issuance of the construction permit for the realization of the project”, which was adopted by the parliament in 2015. In the parliament debate, the government tried to explain to the opposition and the citizens how the giving away of public land in the most beautiful location in Belgrade to a private company for the construction of a residential area, is in the interest of the public.
NIN / NIN
The builders from the Emirates did not even try to adapt the look of the buildings to match the architectural heritage of Belgrade. They simply copied the ready-made solutions from their own country, only with different dimensions. And once a special law is passed for an individual investor and declared to be in public interest – sky is the limit. Has anyone complained about it?
Before 2015, the rule of the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) which was gaining momentum, has not faced a significant number of dissatisfied citizens on the streets. The first notable rallies on the streets of the capital city were organized by “Don’t Let Belgrade D(r)own” (Ne davimo Beograd), a local initiative that staged a protest against the beginning of the construction of “Belgrade Waterfront”. The symbol of the protest was a big yellow rubber duck. That September, less than nine years ago, was the first time that the new government brought out police in riot gear, to stop the citizens from reaching the Geozavod building, where the protest was scheduled to take place. The protests culminated and gained strength in May 2016, after a number of persons wearing balaclavas demolished buildings in Hercegovačka Street and attacked the people who happened to be there, on the night between April 24th and 25th. The police did not react, and Aleksandar Vučić, who was then the prime minister, said that it was done by “complete idiots” and that the buildings should have been demolished in broad daylight. The protests continued for a while, and eventually died down. “Belgrade Waterfront” continued to grow and nobody was held accountable for the nighttime demolition to this day.
March 2023. The protests of the opponents of the “Belgrade Waterfront” construction have died down a long time ago, but the story of the “monumental urban regeneration project” takes an interesting plot twist. Those who believed in “Belgrade Waterfront” so much that they bought apartments in the “Arcadia” and “Aurora” buildings, announced in an e-mail that reached the inboxes of several news outlets, that they would block the Woodrow Wilson Boulevard and the Hercegovačka Street, to show their dissatisfaction with the quality of construction works at their new homes with extremely high costs per square meter.
They even threatened to file a complaint against the project owner, the construction company, and the subcontractors. And just like in a mediocre sitcom, another twist happened on the same day. The protest was not held, and the residents claimed that there was no call for a blockade either, but only the correspondence between residents about the problems they had in their flats. This backpedaling is understandable if we know that contracts are too long to read, that not many people take a closer look at the fine print, and that exercising one’s right to peaceful assembly may complicate the terms of payment. It is best to resolve all issues behind closed doors.
Investment consultant Mahmud Bušatlija points out that “Belgrade Waterfront” is predominantly residential space, with little room for service activities, defined as the rental capital – the space that is sold or rented out. As he explains, private companies hire construction workers, who will only be employed during the construction. However, Bušatlija warns that such intensive development without any serious planning will eventually shut down the construction industry, considering that there is already about a million square meters of office space in Belgrade that has not been used for ten years.
“A private company gets an opportunity to expand. And then it is called state interest. But the main condition will not be met – the production. I see no public interest there. I only see the particular, private interest. If it is private interest, why is the state not treating it as a commercial business? Special interest would mean that something is being done in the interest of all citizens. If a private interest has a need for such space, then the infrastructure must be paid for. Nothing has been paid so far. Allegedly, the state owns thirty percent, but the profit it has made so far is just six million euros”, Bušatlija explains, adding that nobody knows how many hundreds of millions that same state invested in the infrastructure, so that this area could be used for construction in the first place.
When asked who would bear the cost of this investment, he said that the investment would be counted towards public debt. Bušatlija clarifies that the government is taking a loan to build the infrastructure, which is then being repaid through inflation, imports, customs and taxes.
“Nobody considers one thing: if too many apartments are built, they cannot be sold at those prices. Especially in that location, where there are apartments that cost 10,000 euros per square meter. When will they be able to sell them at that price? Never, they are only losing money on them. They either don’t know how to manage money, and can get to it easily, or they are people who launder money consciously. Because, when you launder money, you have to give up a part of it,” Bušatlija notes.
In his opinion, it is pointless to view things from an architectural perspective, if we enter into projects which are not based on public interest, but, on the contrary, which close the opportunity for public interest to be realized in that location.
“What have we done? We have destroyed public interest so that someone would make money by not paying for infrastructure, location and land, but only construction costs,” Bušatlija points out.
He notes that the construction costs are 700-800 euros per square meter, while the investor sells the apartments at a price of 5,000 to 6,000 euros per square meter.