Belgrade Stays initiative launches legal action against Serbian Govt over Old Sava Bridge

The initiative noted that it recently filed an administrative lawsuit against the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance due to the authorities’ failure to respond to an appeal. This appeal challenged the Agency’s decision to withhold the contract from Belgrade Stays, citing alleged confidentiality.

“The Old Sava Bridge, an iconic symbol of Belgrade, is currently being dismantled by Turkish workers using Hungarian machinery, all under the direction of a Chinese company. Its parts are being hauled off as construction waste and scrap metal to a private storage site owned by Millennium Team in Batajnica, with no public oversight whatsoever,” said Rastko Naumov, a Belgrade Stays activist and public procurement expert.

Naumov said the bridge removal project in the heart of Belgrade follows the same pattern as the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station, at which a concrete canopy collapsed in November last year, killing 16 people.

“Our institutions are secretly signing contracts with Chinese companies without public tenders, only for subcontractors with questionable qualifications to then carry out the work on the ground in an equally opaque manner,” Naumov explained.