For the umpteenth time, the Belgrade Metro construction project has been pushed further down the list of national priorities. This time, it was “squeezed out” by the EXPO project, which has already stretched the budget deficit to its limits. An idea that has been discussed for nearly 100 years is still waiting for implementation, while the city’s traffic congestion grows increasingly unbearable.
Although it seemed that the metro was finally gaining traction and serious work on its realization was beginning, the opposite has turned out to be true once again.
According to Nova ekonomija, the deadline for the completion of the first metro line has been pushed back from 2028 to 2030, a shift confirmed by PUC “Belgrade Metro and Train.” The first phase will cover the route from the starting station Železnik to the final station at Pancevački Most.
Earlier announcements had projected that Belgrade would have two metro lines by the end of 2030, with the first one completed by 2028.
Recently, the company also highlighted the approval of a 178.38 million euro loan from Deutsche Bank to finance works on the Depot at Makis, which will manage the entire metro system and should expedite the construction of the first phase of “line 1.”
However, despite this financial backing, the state has reduced its share of funding for the project. According to the revised Fiscal Strategy for 2025-2027, the budget allocation for the metro has been slashed by 11 times compared to the original plan.
While the original plan allocated over 141 billion dinars for the metro project—31.1 billion for 2025 and another 110 billion for 2026—the revised strategy only sets aside a total of 13 billion dinars.
For the next year, only 6.5 billion dinars (approximately 55.5 million euros) are earmarked for metro construction.
The Fiscal Council has emphasized that other projects, including the metro, will not become priorities again until at least 2028. According to their assessment, investments for the metro project are now limited to just the first two phases of line 1, which contrasts sharply with the earlier budget estimates of 330 billion dinars for the first phase between 2023 and 2025. The revised strategy foresees just over 70 billion dinars for both phases of line 1.
Danko Brčerević from the Fiscal Council explains that the metro’s delay is due to limited budget space. With the current deficit at 3% of GDP—already considered the maximum sustainable level—the government has opted to prioritize EXPO over the metro project. Financially, it was not feasible to proceed with both large projects simultaneously.
There are also operational and organizational challenges involved in a metro project of this scale. Brčerević highlights issues such as complex property and legal relations, as well as the need to demolish buildings along the planned route. These factors will further delay the project, regardless of financial resources.
Economic analyst Bogdan Petrović agrees that the metro has been sidelined in favor of EXPO, noting that the revised fiscal strategy clearly reflects this shift in priorities. With only 600 million euros allocated for the metro through the end of 2027—much of which has already been spent—it is evident that major progress on the metro project will not occur in the near future.
Both analysts emphasize that the combination of IMF-imposed budget constraints and the EXPO project’s financial needs has effectively pushed the metro project out of the immediate agenda for the next few years.