First passengers announced for summer 2019, haven’t bought tickets yet – Seven years from signing of agreement on joint construction of BAS

On this date, July 4, in 2017, the City of Belgrade and Beogradska autobuska stanica (BAS) signed the agreement on the joint construction of a new station complex in Block 42 in New Belgrade. It was announced at the time that the new station in a complex of 13,000 square meters, with 135 platforms and 55 parking spaces for a longer parking of buses, would start serving passengers in the summer of 2019.

The new station, as announced that July, would be arranged like the one in Lisbon. The then mayor of Belgrade, Sinisa Mali, and the director of BAS, Andjelko Mucibabic, following the signing of that agreement, pointed out that the city would invest the land and that BAS would invest the money and that the investment would be worth around EUR 25 million, so as not to burden the city budget, while at the same time having the partner be “an operator which has the experience, knowledge and references for doing the job in the right way.”

The city officially marked the beginning of the preparatory works during the election campaign in 2018, but it soon became clear that the new station would not welcome its first passengers and buses in 2019.

Numerous obstacles have arisen before the new platforms and the station building of the modern BAS complex in the seven years since said agreement was signed – problems with the financing of the construction and the need for the amending of the planning documents so that a larger station building than initially planned would be built. At one point, property-legal relations in the space of the new station complex were an obstacle too.

When it comes to the financing, BAS once took out a loan from what was then Komercijalna Banka of EUR 12 million for the construction of the station complex, whereas the rest was supposed to come from its own funds. It would turn out to be only the beginning of the troubles regarding this project.

Once the foundation stone was laid down, the works were carried out in several stages and with numerous breaks. That did not stop those in charge from giving unrealistic promises regarding the completion of the construction, which was also stopped by the coronavirus pandemic in the meantime. Furthermore, BAS complained of an income drop, and the project was also marked by misunderstandings between the city and BAS, regarding both the dynamics of the construction and other problems related to this project. That is why the detailed regulation plan for Block 42, which was prepared based on the preliminary design of the architects Milan and Vladimir Lojanica, who won at the international urban planning-architectural contest for the new complex in Block 42, had to be subsequently amended.

After several breaks and instances of a lack of activities in the complex of the new BAS, more concrete works continued once, slightly over a year ago, an agreement was reached with BAS according to which the city was to continue building the station with the obligation of paying BAS the money previously invested in the construction of the new bus complex.

All things considered, in the past six years and more, since the beginning of the works was officially marked, the traffic routes which surround the station block have been developed and expanded, and the annex has been raised as well (the future heated corridor between the future BAS and the New Belgrade Rail Station, which will also serve as the temporary station building in the initial period). The parking lot for buses and most of the space for the platforms have also been developed. However, the station is not ready for opening even five years from its initial deadline for being put into operation.

The most recent announcements, made by the City of Belgrade last summer, indicate that the new BAS will open to buses and passengers this autumn, but of course, without a station building, which is yet to be raised, well after the new station is put into operation. As the mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Sapic (then in the capacity of the president of the Temporary Organ), announced recently, once the station building is completed, it will not only serve as that, but also have commercial features. He added that the annex would become the station building for suburban traffic exclusively. At the time, he said that he expected the construction of the station building itself to start in the next several months from then and added that the construction would last two to three days.

Let us remind that, this spring, the Temporary Organ of the City of Belgrade gave approval to the Secretariat for Utility and Housing Affairs and the Belgrade Land Development Public Agency for the signing of the agreement with the Ministry of Economy and the company BAS on the regulation of the mutual relations regarding the securing of the financial funds for the final realization of the project of the new bus station in Block 42, pertaining to the settling of the costs which arise within the second phase of this station’s complex (author’s comment: the construction of the station building). At the time, the city gave approval for the signing of the agreement with the Ministry of Economy and BAS on the continuation of the financing of the project of the new BAS, that is, on setting aside EUR 20 million in the next two years.

D. Aleksic

Ministarstvo privrede Republike Srbije

Grad Beograd-Sekretarijat za komunalne i stambene poslove Beograd

BAS Beogradska autobuska stanica a.d. Beograd

Beogradska autobuska stanica in Block 42

Ministry of Economy

Secretariat for Utility and Housing Affairs

Aleksandar Šapić

Siniša Mali

Anđelko Mučibabić

new BAS

construction of new BAS