After seven years of construction, the opening of the new Belgrade bus station (BAS) is being prepared these days, although it is not yet completed, as the main facility, the station building, is still missing and will take at least another two years to finish. The construction was financed not only by the BAS company but also by the City of Belgrade.

I remind you that I built the bus station in Novi Sad as the majority owner of ATP "Vojvodina" in 2007, in one year, using my own funds and loans, on my own location. Novi Sad would have received it as a gift if it had relocated traffic to the new location as it had committed in the contract As part of the Plus program, the City would be freed from two more locations in the center.

However, that is not the only comparison between these two investments.

Let us start the review chronologically.

I bought 82% of ATP "Vojvodina" shares in 2004 and immediately initiated investments. The BAS was privatized under the old law in 2000, and 53% of the shares were owned by small shareholders.

At the same time in 2006, when investments in ATP "Vojvodina" were gaining momentum (there were no significant investments in BAS at that time), attacks and pressures began on both companies. Both stations were targeted by the then-growing tobacco and drug mafia.

The pressure on ATP "Vojvodina" has intensified since 2012, when it became clear that, even through such a flawed judiciary, they would be able to collect damages resulting from the unfulfilled contract. In 2014, BAS additionally became a target within the same interest groups due to the location it had to vacate for the construction of Belgrade Waterfront. Roumor has it that the peace in the company have been bought by paying out subsidies to small shareholders, with mentions of 13 million euro, but it remains unclear on what grounds and under what conditions. At the same time, the City of Belgrade gifted a plot to BAS, and the construction of the station started, but it continues and continues....

There is another point suitable for comparison. The new location of BAS will complicate traffic through Belgrade to such an extent that the local authorities, in order to at least reduce the higher frequency of buses through the center, will be forced to arrange yet another stop for transport coming from the east and south, at their own expense.

The ATP "Vojvodina" bus station was built in a location that allows 3,000 buses to bypass and not to enter the city, which was an environmental requirement from the study by the Belgrade Faculty of Traffic Engineering and the Novi Sad Public Company "Urbanism." In fact, plans dating back up to four decades had envisioned relocating the road infrastructure from the city center, for which the land of ATP "Vojvodina" was the most suitable.

The conclusion is self-imposing that the same interest groups have been active from 2006 onwards seized through bankruptcy, ATP “Vojvodina“, and BAS through Belgrade Waterfront.

I add to this list the fact that the new bus station in Novi Sad and the modern service center "EvoBus" for Mercedes and Setra have been, through bankruptcy with unusual decisions brought by Judge Slobodanka Komšić (the sister of Governor Jorgovanka Tabaković) and the bankruptcy trustee Nikola Pavlović, hurriedly sold at the price of construction materials. The bankruptcy was concluded even though there were still two "live" cases, two appeals submitted to the Supreme Court of Cassation (VKS) for damages, which the Novi Sad Commercial Court concealed for two years, during which all the assets of ATP "Vojvodina" were sold off. The appeals have only recently arrived at the VKS, and judgments are expected soon. The question arises as to why the assets were hastily sold off and the bankruptcy was concluded without settling the creditors (including the Tax Administration) when the collected damages could have covered all obligations and the company could have returned to the market.

Given that the case of ATP "Vojvodina" has been under the monitoring of the European Commission for a decade, which is currently examining the rule of law in member states and candidates, including Serbia, I expect investigative bodies to awaken and determine exactly to whom the assets of ATP "Vojvodina" were sold, and who kept the appeal cases in a drawer to prevent any review and decision making about them.

Respectfully,

Ilija Dević, Investor in ATP "Vojvodina," Novi Sad