"All I remember is that migrants were passing by, sitting on the ground, some of them looked like criminals. That's all I remember. It would be unpleasant to walk by that river. It's like living in the Stone Age," described the owner of the Eagle Hills company, Mohamed Alabar, as he remembers the location where he built Belgrade on the Water
Owner of Eagle Hills Mohamed Alabar he stated that "migrants passing by and sitting on the ground', some of whom 'looked like criminals' were all he remembers seeing 11 years ago at the site where he built Belgrade on water.
In an interview with Insider, he stated that he would be uncomfortable walking by the river at that time.
"If I'm from Belgrade, and let's say I have a guest from Albania or Italy, it would be unpleasant to walk by that river. It's like living in the stone age. And now I want to call my Italian friend and I want to walk with him and say, you know in Italy you are good people, and we in Serbia are also good people. You know, I don't know why people are not interested in progressing in life," Alabar said.
In an interview for Insider, Alabar stated that from the state Of Serbia he got nothing, even though she gave him more than 300 hectares of land without compensation.
He assessed that the location where Belgrade on the water was later built was "shameful", and that no one wanted it because it looked "bad, as well as the state of the country's economy at that time".
Although Alabar is delighted, the Belgrade on the Water project has been accompanied by numerous controversies, accusations of corruption and non-transparency from the very beginning, and criticism intensified in 2024 and 2025 due to the planned expansion of the project and new legal changes.
The main points of contention and alleged malfeasance include secret contracts and trade secrets, among others.
The basic joint venture agreement with Eagle Hills was signed in 2015, but key parts, such as the business plan, are still classified as a trade secret a decade later. Although officials claim there are no secrets, insight into the full financial analysis of the state's investments versus its partners remains unavailable to the public.
In relation to Belgrade on the water, harmful bilateral agreements were also concluded, because the project is implemented on the basis of an interstate agreement between Serbia and the United Arab Emirates, which enables the circumvention of domestic laws, primarily those on public procurement and competition. The Anti-Corruption Agency has assessed that such lex specialis laws carry a high risk of corruption due to excessive discretionary powers of the authorities.
A special controversy is the expansion of Belgrade on the water and the area of the Belgrade Fair. The latest changes to the plan envisage the expansion of the project from 177 to 345 hectares, which implies the demolition of a large part of the Belgrade Fair complex. Professional associations of architects and civil movements demand the withdrawal of these plans in 2025, warning of the degradation of cultural heritage and environmental standards.
All of this was preceded by the demolition case in Savamala, and the investigation into the nighttime demolition under masks in Hercegovačka street in 2016 remained without an epilogue regarding the principals, which in 2025 stands out as a symbol of impunity and the suspension of the rule of law for the sake of this project.
In its reports for the year 2024, the State Audit Institution (DRI) continuously records irregularities in public procurement at the level of the City of Belgrade, which indirectly affects the infrastructure works related to the project.
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