Serbia's Sava amphitheatre, sometimes called “the Serbian Manhattan”, could become the elite part of the Serbian capital. The project “Belgrade on water” plans for the reconstruction of the neglected Sava river banks, and if the works finally start, it should be the luxurious residential, business and recreational complex on the area of 80 hectares. The forming of the working groups has been agreed, to work at accelerated pace on the realization of the project. Tamara Prodanovic has more.

The Sava amphitheatre is considered the “pearl” of our capital, but instead of being its most attractive section, for a long time it has been the ugly ulcer on the river bank. Standing there is non-functional train station, the parking ground of the bus station, sand dig outs, warehouses, depots. The project “Belgrade on water”, presented by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, could finally come to life. This ambitious plan is a first step towards activating all the potentials of the capital located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. However, even with the strong political will, and even if the wealthy investors arrived tomorrow, it could not happen over night. The practice in other European metropolises has shown that it takes at least two years for the making of a blueprint for project as big as this. When the bank of the Sava is at issue, the architects believe the process could be shorter, because there are many earlier projects and plans that are not obsolete, but require “refreshment”. The plan should define the general purpose for this part of the city, and the document also must contain the solution to traffic problems. Once the plan is ratified and adopted, the preparation of the technical documentation and urban planning will commence, which is the most demanding part of the job.

Now, the ideas are ambitious, but also doable. Serbia's “Belgrade on water”, along with the subway, is a project that could change the capital, but it is also very complex with regards to the infrastructural prerequisites. In order for the city to finally take advantage of this space, the railway and road traffic needs to be relocated. Two new bus stations would be opened in the territories of municipalities of Vozdovac and New Belgrade, and the new Prokop train station, where the works are in the advanced stage, would be receiving the big national and European train lines. This gigantic project has already been started with the construction of the bridge to connect the municipalities of Zemun and Borca, and financed from the Chinese loan. It will enable to diminish the load on one of Belgrade’s biggest streets, which runs along the river and by the train and bus station. Also, another bridge will be made on the Sava river, the “twin” of the recently finished one across Ada Ciganlija, which is the world’s biggest bridge with a single pylon. When these two projects are done, the Serbian capital will be proud of ten traffic constructions over the Sava and the Danube.

The total area of the constructions should amount to 1.8 million square meters, and the value of the works will probably exceed four billion euros. The construction and exploitation phase will engage at least 200 thousand people, thus relieving the problem of unemployment in Belgrade, while upon the completion of the works the city would become a new tourist attraction in the South East Europe. The project “Belgrade on water” has received the support of mayor Dragan Djilas. Radio Srbija

Source: balkans.com