Waterfront Mega-Project ‘Will Change Face of Belgrade’

“This is not a pipe dream, but proof that something will really happen,” Vucic said on Friday as he unveiled the plan and a scale model of the ambitious waterfront project.

The presentation was held at the Beogradska Zadruga building, which was the first to be renovated as part of the scheme which is also known as ‘Belgrade on Water’.

“This building is not only a model. Our plan is to change the whole of Belgrade, to change the face of Serbia, so that the whole country looks as clean and scrubbed as this building,” Vucic said.

The plan, which envisages the construction of residential and office buildings, the largest shopping mall in the Balkans, a hotel, an opera house and a skyscraper along the Sava riverbank, was first presented at a real estate fair in Cannes in March.

The construction of the complex will be led by an Abu Dhabi-registered company called Eagle Hills, with the United Arab Emirates firm investing around three billion euro and Serbia contributing the land.

The building of the the complex, which is slated to stretch from Brankov Most to Zeleznicki Most, is supposed to start in February 2015, and preparations are already underway. 

But the government’s decision to approve a project of such national significance has raised criticism from experts who believe the authorities are pushing the scheme against legal regulations.