The State of Serbia is advancing the construction of the National Stadium and facilities for “Expo 2027” on private land to expedite the process, including plots that are not recorded in the cadastre of the Republic Geodetic Institute (RGZ), Forbes Serbia reported today.
On September 26, the Ministry of Construction was required to reject a request for a building permit submitted for the construction of five roads within the “Expo 2027” complex, as well as for hydrotechnical, electric power, telecommunication, signal, and mechanical installations.
The Ministry of Finance is the official investor in the “Expo 2027” exhibition, with the request submitted on behalf of the Chinese company Power Construction Corporation of China Limited. The roads and installations are planned to traverse 92 full plots and parts of another 75 plots in the Surčin municipality, requiring the Ministry of Construction to verify the investor’s land rights.
The RGZ requested information for 170 plots listed in the application. It was discovered that most of these are publicly owned by Serbia. According to the Ministry of Construction’s documentation, six plots are owned by the City of Belgrade, one is state property with usage rights belonging to the City Municipality of Surčin, while eight plots are privately owned. Furthermore, four plots are unregistered in the cadastre, and the Ministry’s decision to deny the building permit mentioned that one plot is privately owned by Dragoljub Marković.
Forbes Serbia verified this information with the cadastre, confirming that the 104-square-meter plot is indeed still registered as private property of Dragoljub Marković. Additionally, in April of this year, a note was added indicating the obligation to compensate for changing the use of agricultural land.
The Ministry of Construction indicated that the seven disputed parcels are primarily publicly owned by Serbia, though a portion is owned by the state-owned Agroindustrial Corporation of Belgrade and privately owned by individuals Georgina Goljević, Srđan Davidović, Milan Miletić, and Mirjana Stanić. Forbes found that these individuals are co-owners of only four of the seven parcels mentioned in the Ministry’s decision, while the other three are fully recorded as public property, suggesting that changes in ownership occurred between the application submission and the Ministry’s decision to deny the permit.
In the case involving four parcels related to the Agro-Industry Corporation and four co-owners, a note about the change of rights holder was entered in March, and in early August, a note was added indicating the start of the expropriation procedure. No similar notes exist for Dragoljub Marković’s plot.
Forbes reports that this situation reveals a lack of coordination within the state, as the permit application was submitted before the ownership changes were reflected in the cadastre. Real estate experts emphasize that “until it is recorded in the cadastre, you are not the owner of the real estate.”
Under current laws, anyone lacking the proper rights to land—such as ownership or lease—cannot obtain a construction permit. Consequently, the Ministry of Finance will need to secure approval after completing the expropriation and transferring ownership. This has resulted in a construction delay affecting approximately five hectares of land involved in the disputed parcels.
The Ministry of Construction cited these issues as reasons for rejecting the building permit application, stating that the Ministry of Finance must prove its land rights as an investor for the parcels where work is planned, specifically for those plots not publicly owned by Serbia. It is also required to provide documentation for the four cadastre parcels that are not registered in the real estate cadastre, which Forbes established do not exist in RGZ records.
The application was further hampered by the absence of a contract with Elektrodistribucija Srbije regarding the construction of necessary infrastructure and a report on the technical control of the project.
