Belgrade public transport company owes suppliers nearly 7 billion dinars, CLS reports

Belgrade's public transport company, GSP "Beograd," is facing a severe financial crisis, currently owing suppliers 6.9 billion Serbian dinars, with 5.5 billion dinars already past due, according to Nikola Jovanović, director of the Center for Local Self-Government (CLS).

This dire financial situation has led to the failure of two significant GSP tenders in the past week. The first, for the procurement of 60 trolleybuses, saw no bidders because the City failed to provide guarantees, and leasing companies are unwilling to work solely with GSP. The second tender, for 85 short trams, was completed, but the contract could not be signed as neither GSP nor the City could provide the required advance payment.

Jovanović holds GSP's general director, Zoran Šarac, and the executive director for the electrical subsystem, Goran Manojlović, most responsible for the company's collapse. Šarac has allegedly been in an unlawful acting director position for nearly four years. Jovanović stated that their close ties to Mayor Aleksandar Šapić do not absolve them of responsibility for GSP's deterioration.

"The consequence of the poor financial condition, as well as catastrophic management, is the fact that two major GSP tenders failed just this week," Jovanović said in a statement. He emphasized that their positions as confidants of the mayor cannot excuse their objective and subjective accountability for the company's decline.

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The consequence of the poor financial condition, as well as catastrophic management, is the fact that two major GSP tenders failed just this week.