Belgrade Arena plans to allocate 39.22 million dinars for procurement related to the roof structure. In addition, another 11 million dinars will be invested in roof repairs, which are not included in the public procurement plan for this year, as indicated in the Belgrade Arena’s 2025 Business Program.
In mid-December, the Belgrade Arena adopted the Business Program for 2025, which was approved by the Belgrade City Assembly just before the New Year.
Part of the program includes a public procurement plan, which highlights planned services and work related to roof repairs, a subject previously covered by N1.
This year, the company plans to allocate 8.5 million dinars for a “main inspection and assessment of the roof structure and main columns,” followed by 720,000 dinars for static load calculations on the roof. The roof covering repair work is estimated at 30 million dinars. In total, the planned procurement for the roof structure amounts to 39.22 million dinars.
The program also includes an investment plan, which not only includes repairs to the roof covering and roof structure inspection but also addresses the repair of the metal roof covering for 5 million dinars and the repair of damaged prestressed cables for 6 million dinars, amounting to 11 million dinars in total.
Altogether, the total expenditure for roof repairs at this largest sports venue in Serbia, which has a capacity of over 20,000 people, will amount to 50.22 million dinars.
Roof safety
As previously reported by N1, the Institute for Materials and Structures at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Belgrade has repeatedly urged the Arena to inspect and assess the condition of the roof structure and main columns of the largest sports hall in Serbia, which it is obligated to do under the Maintenance Project.
However, as the Institute stated for our portal, the structure had not been inspected until 2021.
The most recent communication from the Institute was sent to the Arena on November 15, 2024, indicating that damage to the roof structure had already been noticed.
A few days later, on November 19, 2024, a public procurement notice appeared on the Public Procurement Portal, seeking a contractor for the “repair of the metal roof covering.”
The Arena’s Director, Goran Grbović, assured N1 that the arena was safe and that a structural engineer inspects it before every event.
“If I were to say this is unsafe, we would close the Arena – no matter what event it is,” Grbović said at the time.
Public procurement at Belgrade Arena
According to the Public Procurement Portal, the Belgrade Arena launched an urgent public procurement procedure on November 19, 2024, without publishing a public call. The subject of the procurement was the “repair of the metal roof covering,” with a price set at 5 million dinars, excluding VAT.
The available documentation states that the procurement involves a list of works for “inspection of the condition and maintenance of the roof structure,” including a detailed assessment of damage to the roof structure and main columns.
“During the inspection, the following are checked: reinforced concrete parts of the roof structure, elements of the prestressed system, bearing beams, neoprene bearings, and temperature joints,” the procurement notice explains.
The notice further states that after the inspection, an expert report will be created that includes recommendations for repair measures, after which the roof structure will be repaired and brought back into safe operation.
The Public Procurement Portal does not provide details on the contractor selected for the work.
N1 has learned that the contract was awarded to the Institute for Testing Materials (IMS Institute).
The IMS Institute confirmed to N1 that they had received a request from the Belgrade Arena and that the contract was signed after submitting an offer to the Arena.
“The subject of the contract is the main inspection, assessment – evaluation of the roof structure and main columns of the Belgrade Arena in accordance with the requirements of the ‘Roof Structure and Main Columns Maintenance Project,’ as well as the creation of a report on the condition of the roof structure,” explained the IMS Institute.
The Institute also mentioned that they had “carried out work on the roof structure.”
This is not the first public procurement related to roof repairs for which the Belgrade Arena sought a contractor.
