{"id":14138,"date":"2025-06-10T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/the-ministry-of-construction-and-the-republic-agency-are-unlawfully-conducting-a-so-called-public-presentation-of-the-spatial-plan-for-the-expansion-of-the-belgrade-waterfront-project-members-of-th\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T18:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:48:16","slug":"the-ministry-of-construction-and-the-republic-agency-are-unlawfully-conducting-a-so-called-public-presentation-of-the-spatial-plan-for-the-expansion-of-the-belgrade-waterfront-project-members-of-th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/the-ministry-of-construction-and-the-republic-agency-are-unlawfully-conducting-a-so-called-public-presentation-of-the-spatial-plan-for-the-expansion-of-the-belgrade-waterfront-project-members-of-th\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ministry of Construction and the Republic Agency are unlawfully conducting a so-called \u201cpublic\u201d presentation of the spatial plan for the expansion of the Belgrade Waterfront project. Members of the public, including representatives of RERI, were denied access."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>The Ministry of Construction and the Republic Agency are unlawfully conducting a so-called \u201cpublic\u201d presentation of the spatial plan for the expansion of the Belgrade Waterfront project. Members of the public, including RERI representatives, were denied access.<\/b><\/p>\n\n<p>Less than three weeks ago, the Republic Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism of the Republic of Serbia published on its official website a notice of public inspection for the Draft Amendments to the Spatial Plan for the Belgrade Waterfront project.\r\n<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Draft proposes an almost <\/span><b>twofold expansion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of the Belgrade Waterfront development\u2014from the current <\/span><b>177 hectares to as much as 344 hectares<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Some of the key proposed changes include:<\/span><\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the Sava Amphitheatre in the city\u2019s old core, the project would encompass parts of the <\/span><b>Terazije Terrace<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (reaching up to the Hotel Moskva), the <\/span><b>Belgrade Fair complex<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and portions of the <\/span><b>Top\u010dider cultural-historical unit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, including the Hippodrome and the Old Sugar Factory area;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This wave of intensive urbanization would also extend to <\/span><b>New Belgrade blocks<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with the riverbank near the former shipyard designated for new <\/span><b>residential-commercial developments<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The dominant land use within the planned area is <\/span><b>(predominantly luxury) residential<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with an <\/span><b>average apartment size of 125 m\u00b2<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, designed to accommodate <\/span><b>approximately 33,000 residents<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>In addition to the above, this is a project:<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">designated by a <\/span><b>Government Conclusion<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as one of special importance for the Republic of Serbia and the City of Belgrade;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">implemented on one of the most <\/span><b>valuable locations in economic, infrastructural, and functional terms<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> currently available in the capital;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which <\/span><b>encroaches on a significant number of cultural monuments and protected heritage zones<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which <\/span><b>occupies protected natural areas, habitats of endangered species, and ecologically significant sites<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">which continues to attract <\/span><b>undeniable public attention<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, largely marked by opposition from both the expert community and broader public that has followed the development of the Belgrade Waterfront project over the past decade.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Despite these facts, the Ministry of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure, together with the Republic Agency for Spatial Planning, has undertaken the following actions concerning the so-called \u201cpublic participation and information process\u201d:\r\n<\/p>\n\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">organized public inspection for the <\/span><b>minimum legally required duration<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">scheduled the public presentation at the <\/span><b>latest possible deadline<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (10 days before the closing date for submitting public comments);<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reserved a venue with a <\/span><b>maximum capacity of 70 persons<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>misused internal rules<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> governing order in state facilities to unlawfully <\/span><b>deny access to individuals who had not registered via email by a certain deadline<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">due to limited space, <\/span><b>the interested public was divided into six separate groups<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Due to a <\/span><b>delay of only several hours<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> past the unlawful deadline, the notice sent by RERI to the Republic Agency was <\/span><b>rejected the following day<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as a \u201clate submission.\u201d As a result, on the day of the public presentation, <\/span><b>anyone who submitted a registration email even minutes past the deadline<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or who found out about the time and location via <\/span><b>press or television<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, was <\/span><b>denied entry<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can a space truly be called \u201cpublic\u201d if access is denied, even with registration (which, legally, is not required)?<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>The right to attend a public presentation is guaranteed by law to all citizens<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who wish to obtain timely information and submit their comments or objections. By <\/span><b>denying the public\u2019s right to participate<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the officials of the <\/span><b>Republic Agency for Spatial Planning and Urbanism<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have knowingly acted <\/span><b>in violation of the law<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p>RERI will continue to monitor and respond to all unlawful actions carried out by the aforementioned state institutions in the implementation of the Belgrade Waterfront project.\r\nInstead of a concluding statement, we share with you a remark made by the individual who identified himself as the head of security, while escorting RERI representatives from the presentation:\r\n<\/p>\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cJust imagine what would happen if we let in everyone who wanted to know something?\u201d\r\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Construction and the Republic Agency are unlawfully conducting a so-called \u201cpublic\u201d presentation of the spatial plan for\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":13948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1881],"tags":[1914,1955,1954],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14138"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14142,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14138\/revisions\/14142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reri.org.rs\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}