National Stadium in Surcin: 21.5 of 158 Million Euros Spent

Serbia spent 21.5 million euros, roughly 2.5 billion dinars, from the state budget on the National Stadium in Surcin in 2025. That amounts to 13.6 percent of the 158 million euros (18.5 billion dinars) earmarked for the project under the same budget. The figure appears in the draft law on the final accounts of Serbia’s 2025 budget, which parliament has already adopted. The nearly 800 page document’s breakdown of spending was first reported by Nova ekonomija on September 3.

The 158 million euro figure was not fixed from the start of the year: the budget initially set aside 18.6 billion dinars for the stadium, a plan later revised down to 18.5 billion dinars. Even that lower, revised amount went largely unspent.

The Finance Ministry explained the 13.6 percent execution rate in the final accounts document:

“The 13.6 percent execution of expenditures against the funds planned in the budget of the Republic of Serbia resulted from additional activities related to obtaining permits for carrying out works under the LOT 2 contract. The start date of the works was pushed back for this reason, which resulted in lower financial execution than planned for 2025.”

The LOT 2 contract for the National Football Stadium was signed on September 30, 2023, between three parties: the Republic of Serbia as financier, the Finance Ministry as investor and client, and the Chinese company Power Construction Corporation of China Limited as contractor. Nearly two years later, permits for works under that same contract were, according to the budget document’s explanation, still the reason behind the delayed payments.

The delay in obtaining permits is not the only change to the plan. The stadium had been announced as a venue meant to be finished in time for the EXPO 2027 specialized exhibition, but that deadline no longer holds. The planned completion date has been pushed to early 2028, meaning after the exhibition rather than before it. Part of the reason is the need to stabilize and secure the ground on which the stadium is being built. During EXPO 2027 itself, work on the stadium will be halted for three months, so the construction site will sit idle during the very period when the stadium was originally supposed to be complete.

Based on the available information, the sequence runs as follows: the contract with the Chinese contractor was signed in late September 2023; the plan called for construction to be finished by EXPO 2027; then came a year in which only 21.5 of the planned 158 million euros was spent because of delays in obtaining LOT 2 permits; and finally the deadline was pushed to early 2028, with a three month pause during the exhibition itself. The budget document gives no new date for when the LOT 2 permits are expected to be resolved, nor does it say whether the low execution rate in 2025 was a one time occurrence or will repeat this year, a question only the next final accounts report can answer.