The blocks on Republic Square have been removed again, and the roundabout is nowhere in sight

Will it be long announced roundabout on Republic Square? Although the Center for Local Self-Government (CLS) announced on Wednesday (May 14) that the City of Belgrade gave up on this project, which the mayor talks about for a long time Aleksandar Šapić, the city administration still does not advertise.

Two days after CLS's claims, the city has still neither confirmed nor denied the information that there will be no roundabout. He does not even answer the questions of "Vremena" journalists.

And whoever happens to be on the route through the city center will have something to see. Work on the reconstruction of Republic Square began at the beginning of this year, and since then the cubes located right next to Dr. Zoran Đinđić's Plateau have been excavated and turned over.

What will happen to them - we do not know, because the city does not answer these questions. As previously reported by the media, moving the blocks should be the initial part of the works within the construction of the roundabout.

As Mayor Aleksandar Šapić announced at one time, the plan was to replace the cube with asphalt in certain parts, except in the roundabout itself, but with a change of the surface.

However, if the roundabout is really abandoned, will the cubes, after several months, simply be returned to their initial position? Will that part of the square be paved?

We are still waiting for answers to these questions.

The only thing we know is that the works should last another two weeks. On the website of the City Secretariat for Public Transport, it is stated that the works due to which the "Trg republike" stop was canceled have been extended until May 31. However, since they have already been extended several times, the question is whether this is the final date.

Let's go, Jovo, again.

It is not the first time, and certainly not the last time, that the blocks on Republic Square are removed, turned over, rearranged, replaced with asphalt and the like. In fact, the dice have been rolled so many times since 2019 that no one can say with certainty the exact number of works.

The granite blocks were placed on the road as part of the thorough reconstruction of Republic Square in 2019. By the way, as the then Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesić claimed, the cubes were made of "the best granite".

"I have to tell you a secret. We had several variants, first they were supposed to be ordinary concrete blocks, that would be a bit cheaper, and then I talked to the President of the Republic, Mr. Vučić, who said: 'No, build a central city square, put everything that is best for Belgrade, because that square is built once in a few centuries'. And he was absolutely right. And we put in the best granite, what is best for Belgrade," Vesić said at the time for Pink.

Instead of several centuries of calmness, the opposite happened - works on Republic Square have been going on almost continuously for years.

As soon as the cubes were installed, there were complaints from motor vehicle drivers - the cubes had to be turned the other way.

After that, the blocks began to sink and crack, which is why small repairs were made, but they did not bear fruit. A lot of money was spent on all this - eight million euros, which the Austrian company "Strabag" received for it. However, this money does not include subsequent repairs and reconstructions, so the actual number of works is much higher.

In the end, in Vasa Čarapića Street, the blocks were finally removed and replaced with asphalt.

Why do cubes sink?

The problem continues today. In many places on Trg Republike, the granite blocks have sunk and settled, so that surface is completely uneven today. Apart from not being at all pleasant to be in a vehicle moving through that part of the city, the question is how harmful it is for cars.

Why do cubes that are presented as the best quality sink and have to be serviced every few months? The problem, it turns out, is not the dice themselves.

In the amendment to the contract for the reconstruction of the Republic Square dated September 3, 2019, among other things, it is stated that "excess work appeared in the construction of the pavement structure, primarily due to the Elaboration of the change of the layers of the pavement structure, where instead of a concrete slab, two layers of BNS (bito bearing layer) are planned to be made, thus a greater amount of DKA (crushed stone aggregates, ed. nov.) and a greater amount of spraying with emulsion appeared," writes N1.

In translation, the water between the cubes seeps under them, but cannot seep through the asphalt, which is why the sand base turns into "mush".

This is also the reason why the granite cubes on Republic Square, despite constant repairs, continue to sink.

The mayor Aleksandar Šapić himself confirmed in September that the foundation for the blocks was not well done, that is, that instead of concrete, as was foreseen in the project documentation, asphalt was placed under the blocks.

Overhanging Vesić and Šapić

It is an open secret that things are not blooming well between the current mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić, and the former deputy mayor, Goran Vesić.

"Time" already wrote about the fact that Šapić, for example, does not erect monuments to various writers, artists and other historical figures, which the previous administration promised, without any rational explanation. A large number of those monuments have already been made, paid for and should just be installed, but Šapić suspended this project after taking office as mayor.

Since then, all traces of the promised monuments have been lost, and their only "sin" is that the initiative for their installation was initiated by the city administration during the time of Goran Vesić.

Thus, if the monuments were erected, Vesić would have received the credit.

The question is whether it is a similar story with Trg republike, that is, are the people of Belgrade paying from their own pockets childish whims resulting from the conflict between two progressives?

If so, then Republic Square is not only a construction site, but also a training ground for political extortion. And while Šapić and Vesić play a game of spite - or at least they did until Vesić disappeared from the public eye - the only thing that is certain is that the citizens pay for the guild. And their kidneys.