Cultural Monument Protection Institute: General Staff building is protected

The Institute explained that, under the Cultural Heritage Act, interventions on any immovable property that enjoys the status of a cultural good requires prior approval of technical protection measures and the Institute’s approval of the project and documentation.

The Ecological Uprising environmental organization said that, on behalf of the Serbian Government, outgoing Serbian Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic signed a memorandum of understanding with an American company that is to revitalize these buildings damaged in the 1999 bombing.

The organization said that the site, which is under the protection of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, will be leased to that company for a period of 99 years, without compensation, and that there is a possibility that the building will be demolished or turned into a hotel.

Vesic denied having signed any documents, but he did not deny that the Government has authorized him to sign a memorandum with a company that would revitalize the building.