EAST SARAJEVO: 11 dunums of FAMOS land for sale – who will buy Dečanska Street built on this land?
Dečanska Street in East New Sarajevo is partly built on land owned by the former industrial giant FAMOS. This parcel is just one of seven for which the District Commercial Court in East Sarajevo has announced a sale. The total value of the land is just over one million KM. The sale of the real estate is being carried out based on claims by a company owned by Miloš Stevanović, a lawyer from Bijeljina. Does Dečanska Street have permits? Municipal head Jovan Katić does not know.
By: Sanja Vasković; photo: Spin Info
One of the most beautiful streets in the urban part of East New Sarajevo, separating Park velikana from the artificial lake, is Dečanska Street.
With its construction, traffic in parallel streets—Hilandarska and Spasovdanska—has been relieved.
Construction of Dečanska Street, source: company Graleks.
A large number of people pass through Dečanska Street every day.
However, few know that part of this street is actually built on land owned by the former industrial giant FAMOS a.d. East Sarajevo.
Currently, buildings are being constructed at this location, while the factory has been demolished.
Construction site at the location of the former factory, photo: SPIN Info.
Everything surrounding the property, the sale of FAMOS land, and construction on it remains a mystery that authorities would prefer to cover up.
In 2015, FAMOS, together with two investors, founded the joint company “MOFAS” a.d. East Sarajevo. FAMOS contributed a production hall and equipment, gaining a 49% ownership stake.
After the collapse of this reorganized company and the accumulation of debts, the City Assembly of East Sarajevo founded “DIGIS” in 2021, aiming to take over 51% ownership, return the company to state control, and save it from bankruptcy.
At the time, Mayor Ljubiša Ćosić stated that FAMOS, and later MOFAS, had long faced business difficulties, and that majority owners had withdrawn and filed for bankruptcy.
Ćosić emphasized that he could not specify exact deadlines but expected the full purchase and procurement of materials to be completed within a month, after which the company would resume operations.
The Government of Republika Srpska provided the funds for the purchase.
However, it later turned out that the real goal was not to restart production, but to build residential buildings on attractive locations of the former factory.
Within two years, the land was sold off.
For around 7 million KM, land where production halls once stood was sold in two transactions.
The land was acquired by investors from East Sarajevo.
Who sold the land, how, and on whose behalf remains unknown. The money ended up in MOFAS’s account, and its debts were settled, including those owed to workers.
However, FAMOS’s earlier debts remained.
The company formally still exists, although its accounts are blocked due to multimillion debts.
Company of Miloš Stevanović seeks debt repayment
A few days ago, a procedure was initiated for the sale of real estate owned by FAMOS a.d. East Sarajevo.
All seven parcels, totaling 11,350 m², are encumbered—meaning there are legal burdens registered in land records that restrict ownership rights.
According to an expert valuation, the total value of the parcels is 1,135,000 KM.
In this case, the claimant is “Standard Prva” d.o.o. Bijeljina, and FAMOS’s total debt amounts to 3,341,861.85 KM.
Interestingly, this company is part of a group owned by lawyer Miloš Stevanović.
In addition to Stevanović’s firm, FAMOS owes numerous public institutions, legal entities, and individuals based on court rulings.
Stevanović’s company appears in place of the Investment-Development Bank of Republika Srpska as a secured creditor, based on a claims purchase agreement.
In 2024, Stevanović bought the bank’s claims and began collecting debts from various companies.
Municipal head doesn’t know if main streets have permits
As mentioned, part of Dečanska Street is built on FAMOS-owned land.
This parcel, covering 4,214 m², is also for sale and is valued at 421,400 KM.
Dečanska Street, source: RUGIPP and Google Maps.
Dečanska Street was officially opened in August 2020 by then-municipal head (now mayor) Ljubiša Ćosić and a representative of the contractor “Iskop.”
At a press conference a month ago, current municipal head Jovan Katić was asked whether the street has a usage permit, given it was built on FAMOS land.
SPIN Info: Does this street have a usage permit—yes or no?
Katić: Honestly, I don’t know whether it does, or which road in the Municipality of East New Sarajevo even has a usage permit. I haven’t gone back to check, and I didn’t participate in the construction of the streets you’re talking about.
SPIN Info: You were at the opening of Dečanska…
Katić: And you were there too—I remember you were…
SPIN Info: I was, but I didn’t take a photo… so you don’t know whether one of the main streets in the municipality has a permit?
Katić: I haven’t gone back into the archives to check… I don’t know whether Spasovdanska has a permit, I don’t know whether Hilandarska does, I don’t know whether Beogradska Street—which was built 15 or 20 years ago—has one. I haven’t checked which streets have usage permits or construction permits. I assume they do, since the people who worked on them probably did so based on project documentation and building permits and all that.
Official answers were also requested from the Department for Urban Planning, but no response has been received.
We sent the questions on December 24, but no response has been received. If the information reaches us, it will certainly be published.
In addition, part of the land from the demolished factory halls toward the artificial lake is also registered as FAMOS property and is also being sold.
FAMOS workers: Whose land is ours?
Former FAMOS workers, who are still protesting due to unpaid wages based on court rulings, claim that they are registered as owners of part of the property, since FAMOS has no financial means to settle its debts.
Which parcels are “theirs” remains unknown.
They expect answers from the competent court in East Sarajevo.
Despite numerous uncertainties regarding the sale and ownership of the land, residential buildings are currently being constructed on it—even though these parcels are also encumbered.
“I don’t understand how these people are investing millions without knowing that we have rights to this land, and we certainly won’t give up. Regardless of the court in East Sarajevo—we’ve seen what it’s like since we’ve been waiting so long for them to tell us which location is ours, which land we have rights to and have placed under restriction. I don’t know who would even buy an apartment here without knowing what actually belongs to them,” said Radovan Dubovina, one of the former FAMOS workers, at a recent protest.
We note that the Mayor of East Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, has been ignoring workers’ calls for months and is breaking his own promises that the outstanding wages would be paid.
He no longer wants to answer questions from our journalists.
Ćosić became involved in this matter through the aforementioned company DIGIS.
Who owns the parcels sold by MOFAS?
The first land sale was agreed a few months after the FAMOS workers’ protests in 2023.
The contract was officially signed in November of that year. The land was sold for 4.5 million KM.
The owners of parcels with a total area of 17,586 m² became the companies: “LOGISTIC” (Savo Tomašević), “AKVAMONTMERC” (Savo Lalović), “DOM INVEST” (two parcels, Tomo Kosmajac), “URBANIS” (Miljan Sladoje), “LAKING” (Dragan Lalović), “LEGEND” (Mladen Lučić), “MIS” (Vojo Lubura), and “STANPROJEKAT” (Aleksandar Mičić).
According to information obtained by SPIN Info, after the company “URBANIS” d.o.o., owned by SNSD councilor Miljan Sladoje, failed to pay a certain amount, their plot was taken over by the company “MAPO.”
It should be noted that these are data from RUGIPP, where the mentioned companies are listed as holders of rights to the sold parcels of the former FAMOS, i.e., MOFAS.
Meanwhile, negotiations followed for the sale of the remaining land where the production hall with machinery—what remained of the factory—was located.
Thus, two parcels with a total area of 13,351 square meters, designated as construction sites, are owned by the companies “AKVAMONTMERC” d.o.o., “UNIOTEC” d.o.o., “EURO STAN” d.o.o., and “MARVEL” d.o.o. Among these, “UNIOTEC” and “EURO STAN” own the largest portions.
These parcels were sold for around 2.5 million KM.
The factory has been destroyed, workers are still waiting for their wages, the mayor is not responding to anyone, and investors are building residential buildings.
