12.03.2014.

Works on clearing up part of the General Staff building completed

Completion of the works on clearing the rubble of the building "B" of the old General Staff in Belgrade was marked today.

Activities that were started in late November have been completed on schedule and the devastated area on the corner of Prince Milos Street and Nemanjina Street was arranged and returned to the use of the citizens.

The cleared plateau was visited by Nebojsa Rodic, Minister of Defence in the caretaker government, Zoran Djordjevic, State Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, Goran Vesic, Secretary of the Interim Body of the City of Belgrade, and representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces.

Talking about what has been done over the past seventy days, Colonel Milan Sladoje, Head of the Infrastructure of the Material Resources Sector of the Ministry of Defence, pointed out that three storey levels have been removed, and almost 3500 cubic meters of crushed concrete and rebar, more than 57,000 kilograms of metal and waste and 7500 kilograms of tin have been taken out.

- During the works special attention has been paid to the safety of passers-by, traffic and engaged personnel, and rubble was transported exclusively at night, Colonel Sladoje said.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Rodic said that, when some seventy days ago he ordered the works, there was no calculation for the elections.

- We calculated only for the benefit of the citizens of Belgrade. This calculation told us that it was unacceptable in the city centre to have such a collapsed building that has become the symbol of an era.

He added that he was sorry that he did not have the opportunity to build rather than to destroy, but a wise man convinced him that things are not like this.

- He told me that this just announced that there will be change and that we will build because we managed to successfully remove a part of the building, after fifteen years, and you know what it looked like, which is why I especially thank all the members of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces. This is especially so because I was able to talk to the tenants of the building nearby who told me that they did not even notice when the object disappeared. The Minister has announced that now there should follow complete removal of the building across the street, in Nemanjina street.

- The Sava river is about one kilometre away from here and since we started with clearing up and removing the rails and sleepers, maybe this is our small contribution to the organization of this part of town and way out from our beautiful city to the water.

Goran Vesic, Secretary of the Interim Body of the City of Belgrade thanked the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces on a job well done and pointed out that the project had nothing to do with money, but with the will and knowledge.

- Ministry of Defence and Minister Rodic have succeeded in it and for us it is very important because an eyesore in the city centre has been removed, and we have shown that we can change things for the better.

Works on the corner of Prince Milos Street and Nemanjina Street which were completely done by the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, have included clearing debris of collapsed concrete construction, gross floor area of approximately 2,100 m2. The contractor was "Belgrade" Military Construction Establishment, the investor was Military Construction Centre, a pyrotechnic security was provided by the Serbian Armed Forces. The value of the works on the annex of the "B" building was about 38 millions, and the estimates indicate that complete clearance of both buildings, demolition and removal of rubble would take about three times as much.

The General Staff Building few months ago ...