RFE: Serbian national stadium to cost 257 million Euro

The stadium in the Surcin suburb of the Serbian capital is a project launched by the authorities with the full support of President Aleksandar Vucic who inaugurated the start of construction recently.

RFE said that its reporters found the feasibility study in the documents archive of the Belgrade urban planning department. The study says that the stadium will help develop patriotism but added that Serbia does not need a stadium of the planned size envisaged by the client.

According to the study, the investment will return in 37 year. The feasibility study was commissioned by the Serbian government and completed by the China Railway 14th Bureau Group Co.Ltd three years ago. The company is part of the China Railway Construction Corporation which the Pentagon believes has close ties to the Chinese military. It has been building railroads in Serbia. The government also signed a memorandum of understanding, which was not made public, to draw up the project for infrastructure around the stadium.

Fiscal Council official Marko Milanovic told RFE that the national stadium project has not been transparent and that procedures have been bypassed. He said that the EXPO 2027 complex and the national stadium will most probably be financed by taking out loans.

The plan is to build a stadium with a capacity of 52,000 because of the possibility that Serbia could win the organization of a European championship. The stadium is planned to be built on state-owned farm land.