The state will pay about 12 million euros for the expropriation of the land for the construction of the EXPO exhibition, or half a million euros per hectare. The land that is being bought also includes the former plot of the PKG company, which was sold by the state in 2018 at a price of 4700 euros for one hectare.
Costs for the expropriation of the land on which it will be built National football stadium and international exhibition facilities EXPO Belgrade 2027. amount to around 12 million euros, according to the State Attorney's Office of Serbia for Radio Free Europe (RSE).
The documentation obtained by RSE according to the Law on the Availability of Information shows that the Tax Administration estimated that the value of that land in the municipality of Surčin is 500.000 euros per hectare.
On the outskirts of Belgrade, on a construction site that extends to about 350 hectares, until just three years ago, there were fields, forests and canals categorized as agricultural land.
The state's decision to build the National Stadium and the EXPO fair complex on this area was followed by the adoption of new planning documents, and the former arable land became a construction zone.
Thus, the value of this land has been significantly increased, and therefore the purchase costs for the needs of the implementation of these projects. The largest part of the land was owned by the state, but the planned construction zone also covered a number of plots owned by private individuals and companies.
One of the companies from the UAE
Among the owners of the land being bought in Surcin was the company from the United Arab Emirates "Al Dahra". By the way, that land used to belong to the state company Poljopridredni kombinat Beograd (PKB), which was privatized in 2018. bought by an Arab company thus buying a part of the company's property.
Until privatization in 2018, the PKB corporation used about 30.000 hectares of land in several municipalities (Palilula, Zrenjanin and Surčin). 17.000 hectares were sold to the "Al Dahra" company, and for Insider TV, representatives of the government then claimed that the land that the state will need in the future was exempted from privatization.
In 2018, the Arab company bought the land of PKB at a price of 4.700 euros per hectare, but the same land would now be valued at almost 100 times the amount, i.e. half a million euros.
Assessment without going to the field
According to the Law, RSE received a decision from the Tax Administration, in which it was established that undeveloped construction land in the municipality of Surčin is worth 6.174 dinars (50 euros) per square meter, that is, about half a million euros for one hectare. The Tax Administration determined the price without going to the field, based on the prices achieved in 2022 and 2023 in three real estate sales in a similar location.
According to the data of the Republic Geodetic Institute of Serbia, there were about 2023 sales of construction land in the municipality of Surčin in 400. The cheapest price was 18.000 euros, and the most expensive was two million euros per hectare. The average value of agricultural land in the territory of the City of Belgrade was around 9.000 euros per hectare.
The specific case of an Arab company
On the other hand, the company "Al Dahra" states that they did not sell land in Surcin to the state.
"Al Dahra did not sell land to the State of Serbia for the purposes of the Expo 2027 project," they claim in an e-mail response from this company.
By inspecting the cadastre, however, it can be determined that this company was the owner of the land included in the plans for the construction of facilities for the EXPO exhibition until March. Now the Republic of Serbia has been registered as the owner of parts of those plots, but at the same time the rest of the agricultural land "Al Dahre" in Surčin has been registered as the property of the company "New International Investments 011 doo".
The company "New International investments 011" is owned by the company "Serbia Real Estate Holding", which, like "Al Dahra", is registered in the United Arab Emirates. The chairman of the supervisory board of the company "New International Investments 011" is Khedaim Abdulla Saeed Faris Alderei, who held the same position in "Al Dahra" until April 2022.
The company "New International Investments 011" did not answer questions about whether the state bought from them the land that until recently belonged to "Al Dahra", as well as exactly how much land was bought.
The works have begun.
Work on the construction of EXPO facilities began at the end of 2023, and the deadline for completion is December 2026.
The documentation that the State Attorney's Office provided to RSE journalists shows that the Tax Administration submitted the first assessment of the value of the land necessary for the realization of that project in June 2023, while the second assessment, with the same estimated value of 6.142 dinars (50 euros) per square meter, was only made in July this year.
Due to the unfinished expropriation and the fact that private persons are still listed in the cadastre as the owners of certain plots necessary for the construction of projects in Surčin, the Ministry of Construction at the end of September of this year refused to issue a building permit to the Ministry of Finance as an investor for the construction of the necessary infrastructure in Surčin.
However, the lack of construction permits has not been an obstacle for the state to carry out work on these projects.
Thus, on May 20, 2024, the Minister of Finance Siniša Mali announced that "the installation of piles for the National Stadium has begun", although, according to the data of the Agency for Economic Registers, the construction permit for those works has been issued only three months later.
How much will EXPO be paid out?
The predictions of the government representatives about the benefits of the exhibition have been synchronized from the beginning and boil down to assurances that the EXPO project will revive Serbia, bring it huge profits and international reputation.
However, the available documentation gives a slightly different picture of the potential of that project.
EXPO is a "non-profit manifestation" and only by using the built complex as a new fair space will it be possible to justify the invested funds. The investment payback period is at least 27,4 years.
This is stated in the "Preliminary justification study for the EXPO and the new exhibition space", commissioned by the Ministry of Construction and prepared on June 20, 2022.
This document also states that the construction costs of just the exhibition complex in Surčino will amount to 500 million euros. According to the data from the study, it includes the costs of building fair pavilions, but also residential buildings, restaurants, shops, construction of promenades, parking lots, and access roads.
As predicted, the costs for the fair part should amount to 241 million euros, while the construction of additional contents should cost 259 million euros.
In order for the construction to be economically justified, the study is counting on the fact that after the exhibition, the fair will move to the newly built facilities in Surčin, which will have to organize more events, concerts, and conferences in addition to all the previous fair manifestations.
If all those plans are realized, the return of the investment in the amount of 241 million euros, which is foreseen only for the exhibition halls, is expected in almost 30 years, according to the study.
Source: RFE/RL/Insider
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