Vlada Slavica, architect of Belgrade's "Arena" has doubts concerning completion by July 2005

Arthitect Vlada Slavica is concerned for the destiny of "Arena". Although it was not completed, it was open on August 2004 by pre-Olympics basketball tournament "Diamond Ball" and had record visit as far as indoor sports are concerned (16.254).

Slavica says that the works on the small hall are still underway and he wonders what will be completed before the start of the championship this summer. There is a chance that the hall be ready for European Volleyball and Basketball Championships, because they will be held in September, but Slavica doubt that there is enough time for preparations for World Volleyball League that should take place at the beginning of July. It is already May and the works haven't still been contracted. His estimate is that telescopic stands will not be ready fro the World League, because, as far as he knows, they haven't been ordered yet from the Americans. That means that the money will have to be wasted on rental.

As far as raining problem is concerned, since the roof of Arena leaks, he says that it is "overrated":
One domestic company, licensed partner of German company that started to build the roof in 1998, took on responsibility to check the roof and repair it. The roof is well-constructed with series of special demands. The materials are good, but it leaked a little.

One could notice the problem with the parking lot during the "Diamond Ball". 700-800 parking spaces for Arena that holds 20,000 spectators is not enough. Construction of additional several thousands of places is neccesary. These temporary facilities that last take away precious functions from "Arena". There is also problem with the press center that is made of two warehouses.

Slavica is especially annoyed with the fact that the facade is not the way he wanted it to be. I had to admit that the finishing works are not at the projected level, especially the works on the facade that has extraordinary destiny. The facade was supposed to be made of natural stone and then the order in one single sentence was forwarded: "the investor decided that the facade be made of artificial stone”. Artificial stone is not good for the facade because it gives the first and the most important impression. As far as lasting, maintenance and the looks are concerned… the facade set the level for "Arena", and it looks cheap and sad and, in addition to all that, it has technical problems - there are already cracks on it.

Slavica cannot agree with the decision on elimination of ice rink and says that he is resentful only because he used to play hockey when he was young. Arena was designed to have ice rink. In the middle of the works, somebody decided to remove it from the plans. Just before the  "Diamond Ball" tournament, 150,000-200,000 EUR should have been invested in the ice rink. Slavica wrote to the administrative board of "Arena" and to the City, but all for nothing-their opinion was that that would not be remunerative.