British multinational company to develop resettlement plan for second section of Belgrade subway - Demolition of 33 buildings in Zvezdara and Palilula planned

Arup doo Belgrade has been awarded the contract to develop a resettlement action plan for the second phase of line one of the Belgrade subway construction project. The contract value is around 4 million dinars including the VAT. Let us remind that this company was also selected as the contractor for the development of a resettlement action plan for the first phase of line one of the Belgrade subway.

Arup's offer was the only one submitted within the tender announced in December 2024 by the Belgrade Metro and Train Public Utility Company. This is the second tender for this service, after the previous procedure, announced in November, was suspended, because the only bid that was made was deemed unacceptable.

Phase two of the first line, which is also the subject of the assignment, includes a total of six stations: Karaburma, Ada Huja, Visnjicka Street, Mirijevski Blvd, 7th Belgrade Gymnasium and Mirijevo, as well as shafts nos. 11, 12 and 13, the road for laying the cable from the Beograd 20 substation to the Mirijevo substation and the Mirijevo substation.

The Belgrade Metro and Train Public Utility Company has made preliminary assessments of the land that needs to be acquired and cleared of buildings, and this is a land area of 91,690 m2 in Zvezdara, as well as 48,504 m2 in Palilula, where the removal of seven residential, 23 commercial and three commercial-residential buildings is also planned.

- The land that is being acquired mainly includes construction land. Residential buildings are diverse and include private houses, legal and illegal, with auxiliary buildings. Commercial buildings are also diverse and include gas stations, individual premises for various purposes, and the like - the document states.

The document highlights that the number of families living in the affected buildings, as well as their status (owners, tenants), is unknown, as is the number of active business activities in the affected buildings, as well as their status (owners, tenants).

The work of resolving property and legal relations, as well as the removal of residential, auxiliary and commercial buildings on the expropriated/administratively transferred land, is being carried out by the Belgrade Land Development Public Agency.

As a reminder, in November, the City of Belgrade adopted the Resettlement Action Plan for the first phase of the first line of the Belgrade subway.

The first phase of Line 1 includes 15.4 kilometers of an underground subway network with 15 stations and 10 operational shafts, from the Makis Depot to the Pancevo Bridge. This phase of the project will include the physical resettlement of residential property owners and the economic resettlement of companies, the plan states.

Although the first phase originally included 14 stations and ended at the Danube station, a recent reorganization of the phases extended the first phase to include the Pancevo Bridge station and a related location for the installation of TBMs, tunnel boring machines.

You can find the link to the Resettlement Action Plan HERE.

Arup is a British multinational company providing professional design, engineering, architecture, planning and consulting services in every aspect of construction. It employs around 17,000 people in over 90 offices in 35 countries and has participated in significant projects in over 160 countries on almost all continents.

The Belgrade office, as stated on the company's official website, was opened in 2007.

This company has already been engaged in several projects in our country, such as Corridor 10, and they also state that they provide technical assistance to the Roads of Serbia during the rehabilitation program of over 1,100 km of the country's road network. The company adds that it is also collaborating with the EBRD by providing environmental and social risk assessment services in projects across the region, such as the Belgrade Waterworks Project, the Belgrade Public Bus Transport Project, the Kragujevac Infrastructure Improvement Project, and the Kolubara Mine in Serbia.