Ikea starts construction of trade center in Belgrade in mid-2012

Sweden's Ikea furniture factory will start building its first trade center in Serbia in mid-2012, and it is expected to open in 2013.

This trade center in Belgrade will be situated somewhere along the highway to Croatia, but its exact location has not been specified yet.

Namely, the location of the future trade center is still kept secret by Ikea and the Serbian government, but sources claim it will not be built either on a land of the Cattle Breeding Institute in Zemun or near the toll station Bubanj Potok, which were both mentioned in the media as possible locations.

The government and Ikea were close to reach an agreement in early 2011 on the construction of a facility in the location of Soko Salas (Soko Farm), in the vicinity of the Belgrade-Zagreb highway, between the city and the airport.

The state has promised to create all the necessary conditions for the construction until March 2012, that is, to grant all required permits and change the purpose of the land in the selected location.

On the other hand, the Serbian government has also accepted that the agreement does not include the construction of Ikea's factory in Serbia.

People at Ikea as well as people of the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Mining have confirmed that negotiations are underway, but nobody has given any comment on the location of the future trade center.

According to Ikea's estimates, it will take about one year to finish the construction of the facility in Belgrade, meaning that the shopping center should be opened in 2013.

Construction of four trade centers is in the pipeline - in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Nis, and Novi Sad.

The initial idea was to build a shopping center comprising clothing, footwear and electronic appliances stores in addition to a department store where Ikea would be selling its furniture and small household appliances. The department store would span 35,000 square meters, whereas the entire trade center should span about 100,000 square meters. The construction would cost between 250 and 300 million euros.