Photo: Vladimir Šporčić/TanjugKula Beograd, the central tower of Belgrade on the water, is still operating without a use permit. It is only partially occupied, so most of the time it serves as a billboard for advertisements
"The Belgrade Tower, the largest building in the Balkans and one of the symbols of the capital, shone in the colors of Informer's sports reality show."
This is how Informer boasted in January with an advertisement on Kula Beograd for the reality show they broadcast. This central solitaire in the frame Belgrade on the water he personally opened it Aleksandar Vučić 2024, but the building has been operating without a use permit since then, according to data in the Central Registry of Unified Procedures (CEOP).
At the opening, Vučić said that the foundation stone for the start of water works in Belgrade was laid in the heaviest rain, and there were also demonstrations:
"Praise (majority owner of Belgrade on the water) told me then that the rain was a good sign. We had the support of only 27 percent of the people, I was like Don Quixote. I want to thank Sinisa Mal and Goran Vesić. Everything else, more or less nobody was there to help."
Nobody seems to be trying to help do anything according to the regulations even now, because there is not even a request for a use permit submitted in the CEOP register. It seems that Belgrade Tower mainly serves as the biggest billboard in the Balkans.
The central tower, which was built in 2022, as part of the Belgrade on the Water project, is the tallest building in Serbia and the territory of the former Yugoslavia with a height of 168 meters and 42 floors. This luxury facility on the banks of the Sava includes the St. Regis hotel up to the 9th floor and exclusive apartments from the 14th to the 39th floor, making it a symbol of the modern capital, according to the website of Belgrade on the Water. There are a total of 220 apartments ranging in size from 56 to 175 square meters.
Kula Belgrade is only partially occupied, and it is not known exactly how many apartments have been sold so far, nor how successful the hotel that has been opened is. Available real estate websites offer apartments of 87 and 150 square meters, so it is assumed that they are the smallest and largest sold. An 87-square-meter apartment costs almost 800.000 euros, which is more than 9.000 euros per square meter, while this larger one is slightly more expensive per square meter and costs a total of 1,3 million euros.
On booking, the hotel in Kula Belgrade costs about 35.000 dinars per night for two people. For this price, you can get a deluxe room, which does not face the river. For a better view, you should allocate at least an additional 10.000 dinars. On this site, the hotel has a rating of 9,1, but has only 182 reviews, while for comparison, the Hilton in Belgrade has more than 1.500 reviews. From that, it could be concluded that not too many people have stayed there so far. Or at least they weren't motivated to comment on the service.
The tower has been announced by Aleksandar Vučić since 2014, and the deadline for construction has been broken countless times:
"Already at the end of February, no later than March 1, 2015, we will begin the construction of the first A phase of the entire Belgrade on the Water project. It will be four large buildings plus the largest shopping mall in the entire Balkans, plus the Belgrade Tower, the largest, most beautiful, and most important building that will represent Belgrade's new landmark. And we have agreed that before the end of 2016, the outside of the Belgrade Tower will be completely finished."
During the tour of the construction site of Belgrade on the Water in December 2016, the Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, was asked by the journalist why the Tower of Belgrade on the Water was not finished yet, as he had announced in 2014. Vucic answered:
"It was impossible that the Belgrade Tower would be completed by 2016... I don't know... I thought it could, wobble, rise. As you can see, it rises to the tenth floor. Simply, it's impossible for it to be finished, it's impossible for the works to take such a short time. This will only happen in March 2018, in April."
It was then announced that it will be opened by the end of 2021 or in January 2022 at the latest.
"I am proud of this construction site and what we have done, 150.000 square meters have already been completed, and 750.000 square meters are currently under construction," said Vučić, who toured the works together with the director of the Eagle Hills company, Muhamed Alabar.
Vučić pointed out that it will be the most visited tourist facility in Serbia.
The National Bank of Serbia increased the reference interest rate to six percent, for the first time in more than two years. What does this decision mean for citizens who pay off loans, those who plan to borrow and savers?
The state currently has no money for the second installment of subsidies per hectare, announced the Minister of Agriculture in the technical mandate, Dragan Glamočić. Farmers were waiting for the promised help before the autumn sowing, while agro-economic analysts warn that the government's technical mandate does not release the state from its obligations.
The leakage of half a million liters of oil near Sisak stopped the transport of Janaf, on which the supply of the Refinery in Pancevo depends. NIS has requested access to state reserves, and experts warn that a longer interruption could stop production at the Refinery
The import of fossil fuels has cost Serbia more than 57 billion dollars in the past two decades, with a high price for the environment and the health of citizens. The energy transition is expensive, but its delay seems to be even more expensive
Due to damage to the pipeline on the Adriatic pipeline, crude oil transport to Serbia has been suspended, and the Pancevo Refinery is adjusting the volume of processing. NIS also requested diesel from operational reserves
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
See all
