Construction of cheap apartments starts in May - biggest housing complex in capital city in Voždovac

- Construction of first cheap apartments starts in May in Novi Sad, Niš and Kragujevac. The locations have been provided and investors are already collecting building permits - the Broadcasting Corporation of Serbia (RTS) announced.

Investors ask from the state to agree the terms of loans for construction with banks, to have their debts reprogrammed on two years, as well as that some building companies are not favored any more.

Recently adopted Regulations governing transfer of rights to use into ownership of city building land should accelerate construction of apartments, while piled stocks of building materials will be used in construction of cheap apartments.

- In order to start this building cycle, investors must start buying land and banks should accelerate approval of subsidized loans - said Goran Rodić from the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia.

Maximum price of square meter of cheap apartments can not exceed 1,600 EUR. It will depend on the location and its infrastructure. The authorized people say that the citizens expressed big interest in the announced construction of cheap apartments. It is estimated that there are about 500,000 tenants in Serbia, one fifth of whom live in Belgrade. Real estate agents are of the opinion that construction of cheap apartments will break monopoly, which is the reason why the prices are not dropping.

The biggest housing complex in the capital city will be built in Voždovac. Construction of about 4,000 apartments is planned in the location of former barracks, and the price of square meter should be 1,300 EUR. The authorized ministry will make the planning documentation and issue building permit, while the City will provide infrastructure. The Building Directorate of Serbia is the project coordinator.

- The Building Directorate will also be the user of funds for project finance. It will be selling these apartments and hire subcontractors for construction of all these buildings with the building operative of Serbia - says Oliver Dulić, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning.

Investors, however, ask from the state to convince banks to postpone the existing loans for two years. Invitation for construction of cheap apartments is sent to all building companies that have ready locations and local authorities are invited to lower the price of fees for organization of building land.