How did PPPPN for EXPO become a mega-project that permanently changes Belgrade? For whom were these changes designed, with what goals and with what justifications? Read it!
EXPO is not just an exhibition. This project includes other projects that are not spatially connected to the EXPO plan. These projects are distributed throughout Serbia. See which ones we have selected.
SOON
BELGRADE IS HOSTING THE EXPO 2027 SPECIALIZED EXHIBITION.
Belgrade is hosting the specialized exhibition EXPO 2027. One of the largest construction projects in the recent history of Serbia is being planned for it, without a real public discussion and with a systematic circumvention of legal and planning frameworks. Ministry of Space follows how Surčinsko polje is transformed, but also the rest of Belgrade, how narratives and justifications for this project are built, how the state participates in who decides and who bears the costs.
/ EXPO 2027 is not a big EXPO /
This is a specialized exhibition that takes place between two major world exhibitions — smaller in scope, duration, importance and attendance. A key difference for those who finance this spectacle: at major EXPO exhibitions, each country builds and finances its own pavilion. The host country does it on the specialized one. So — we.
/ How did 25ha become 799ha?/
The plan for EXPO is not called EXPO. It's called the National Football Stadium Special Purpose Area Spatial Plan — and it's not an administrative error, it's a tactic. The plan was first adopted for the stadium, and subsequently it was announced as the first phase of the plan for the EXPO complex.
Naming is the least of the problems though. BIE — the international body that accredits such exhibitions — stipulates that a specialized exhibition may not occupy more than 25 hectares. However, the BIE did not prescribe how much the supporting contents for the EXPO can occupy. In our case, the plan under which the EXPO and accompanying facilities are being built occupies 799ha. That is 32 times more than the maximum space provided for the exhibition. What is being built to the greatest extent is not EXPO — EXPO is the occasion. The accompanying contents are what will completely transform Surčin, as well as the rest of the city, because the infrastructure is being planned accordingly.
/ Law valid only for EXPO
- almighty lex specialis /
For projects declared "of national importance", the law allows accelerated procedures. For EXPO, the government went a step further: a special law was passed, the so-called lex specialis, which suspends the application of four current laws — the Law on Public Procurement, the Law on Planning and Construction, the Law on Expropriation and the Law on General Administrative Procedure. One of the direct consequences is the shortening of public inspection from 30 to 15 days. Also, this lex specialis made it possible for all objects in the function of the EXPO exhibition to be used after construction without a use permit. In a country where the roof of a public building collapsed without a permit, 16 people died.
/ Luxury housing is
of national interest? /
The fact is that the construction of apartments in Belgrade has long since reached its limits. However, this will not force either the investors or the state to stop the construction of unnecessary and expensive square meters.
In the supporting contents of the EXPO, there will be numerous luxury residential complexes, a dolphinarium, a theme park, etc., and we cannot understand why this construction is in the national interest. One of the factors why we cannot understand this is that the public has never had access to any official document that shows and proves that there is an economic calculation and economic justification of these projects. The Government of Serbia has never given any explanation as to how all this is in our interest, except that it declared it a national interest.
We remind you, the EXPO exhibition may occupy only 25ha, and even if its maintenance is in the national interest, what about the other 774ha for which there is no explanation?
/ 18 billion euros
for a program that does not exist /
The state leadership tells us that the EXPO is "our turning point" and "what will change the image of Serbia in the world". Less vocal is the question of who is funding the turnaround. As soon as it was confirmed that the specialized EXPO 2027 will be held in Belgrade, the Government started building the narrative that "EXPO is the whole of Serbia". Under the hood of holding the specialized exhibition EXPO, the president of the country presented the investment program "Leap into the future - Serbia 2027", worth 18 billion euros. However, Transparency Serbia reveals that the Government of RS never adopted this program as an official document. It exists only as a website with a list of 232 infrastructural projects, which are under the implementation of the specialized exhibition EXPO. However, public money is spent according to that list.
/ Water source /
In conclusion with the IV phase, the spatial plan for the national football stadium and EXPO occupied the space of both the wider (III) and narrower (II) sanitary protection zones of the Belgrade water source. According to the research of the student initiative I will EXPO, ⅓ of Belgrade's drinking water source is located in this area. Despite this, the Government made a decision to dig and build in this area, which is strictly prohibited in the sanitary protection zone or allowed only under special conditions, which do not violate sanitary protection. Therefore, the Government made a conscious decision to cancel ⅓ of Belgrade's drinking water source by opting for intensive construction in this area.
/ Public participation in planning /
When doing mega-projects like this, the public must necessarily be involved in the decision-making, because this is a big change in space that affects all of us. If there is no mutual agreement, there is no trust in the country that is carrying out the project. Unfortunately, our Government has decided to do the opposite of what it should be - first of all, not to provide information at all about what is planned in the plan document, and then to shorten and practically eliminate the public inspection procedure as much as possible. The fact that the procedures were only a formality until now, and that they were additionally shortened, was still not enough. The government also amended the Rulebook on the preparation of plans, whereby public sessions were transferred to an online format. In this way, she told us that we are all unwanted in this process, that we have no right to say what is in our interest, and when we say that no one cares, we will simply be shut down with one click.
/ Agricultural land /
This plan covers as much as 604,32 ha of agricultural land! Why is that a problem? Because agricultural land is a non-renewable and valuable resource of a city, and this agricultural land is mostly in public ownership. Therefore, it is a public good, but no one asked us anything about its conversion. The government independently decided that the urbanization of Surčinsko polje is a national interest, and that it is more important to have a national stadium, EXPO, a new fair, business premises, theme parks, a dolphinarium, an aquatic center, etc. from having agricultural land and food production.