INVESTOR-DRIVEN URBAN DEVELOPMENT: Construction of 28 new buildings planned in Istočna Ilidža

The draft amendments to the “Škrbino Polje” Regulatory Plan have sparked widespread discontent among residents of this part of the municipality, who have for years been pointing to alleged irregularities concerning the very process of drafting the plan. Another problem is the existing infrastructure, as well as preferential treatment of investors at the expense of all aspects of a humane residential environment. The aforementioned FAMOS land recently became the property of the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža. Municipal authorities state that everything is being carried out in accordance with the law.

By: Sanja Vasković

Cover photo: SPIN Info

Intensive construction in East Sarajevo is gaining momentum. In the Municipality of Istočno Novo Sarajevo, there is now hardly any municipal land left available for development.

The recent demolition of the halls of the former industrial giant FAMOS and the sale of land in the centre of the municipality for the construction of residential buildings have sparked outrage among residents of this municipality as well as those of neighbouring municipalities.

The competent inspection authorities have yet to provide answers as to whether the construction is being carried out in accordance with the law. The land is encumbered due to debts owed by the former factory.

However, the neighbouring municipality, Istočna Ilidža, is also planning to pave over land that was once owned by the factory and is now the property of the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža.

Favouring Investors?

The draft “Škrbino Polje” Regulatory Plan, which includes the so-called FAMOS settlement built by workers of the factory, envisages covering dozens of dunums of land with concrete, i.e. the construction of a large number of residential buildings.

Over the years, the number of planned buildings has continued to increase.

2011 Plan (left) and 2023 Plan (right)

No, the recent amendments to the regulatory plan envisage a completely new appearance for this area.

For residents of this neighbourhood, it is obvious that the planned construction is not in accordance with the law.

In addition, during the discussions on the draft regulatory plan, they drew the attention of the competent authorities to numerous problems that such construction would cause.

However, neither the municipality nor the planners are willing to listen to the residents’ proposals, residents of the neighbourhood told us.

“We had around fifteen proposals, most of them concerning the positioning of the buildings. We asked for some to be moved a few metres, others to be rotated, and in some locations we asked for the parking area to be expanded. We even asked for the scope of the plan to be extended. However, at the public hearing, we listened as one proposal after another was rejected, and we could hardly believe that this was happening. We did not jeopardise either the investors or the municipality, which is obviously interested in constructing as many buildings as possible and making those buildings as high as possible. Apart from three buildings that would be directly in front of our homes, just 15 metres away, we did not even ask for a reduction in the number of floors. The calculation was the same for all investors—the same total floor area, just organised differently—but they did not listen to us,” Miloš Moravac, a resident of the FAMOS settlement, told SPIN Info.

Moreover, following the public hearing, the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža added four new buildings to the plan.

According to the current draft, the construction of 28 buildings is planned in this area.

April 2026 Proposal (left) and August 2025 Proposal (right)

Seven-Storey Buildings Going Up, Existing Infrastructure Unable to Meet Demand

This area has been flooded twice in the past three years.

Due to damage to residential properties, residents of the neighbourhood held a meeting in March with representatives of the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža and the local water utility company. They say that the promises made to them at the time have not been fulfilled. They also stress that the existing infrastructure needs to be upgraded before any new construction is considered.

“Even the existing sewage system cannot cope, so this spring we had flooding and sewage backing up into basements and garages, while someone is now planning another thousand apartments. Open sewage pipes are still lying in Gatačka Street. In summer, the stench is so bad that you cannot go outside, and no one has done anything about it for years. In winter, our streets are not properly cleared, yet utility fees are regularly collected,” Božo Crnjak, another resident of the FAMOS settlement, tells us, questioning whose interest it is to construct new seven-storey buildings in an already built-up neighbourhood.

Blagoje Maljukan, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 23 years, recalls that FAMOS workers financed the electricity, water supply, asphalt, and sewage infrastructure with their own money. They also planted trees and created a small park. In recent years, he adds, there has not even been organised snow clearing.

Residents say that the authorities have forgotten about the people living there. They also point out that an environmental protection plan has not been prepared, even though it is mandatory. The current draft regulatory plan also envisages cutting down trees planted by the residents.

“Now they want to build new buildings… They want to destroy the greenery—the trees that have been growing for 20 years—and destroy the pavements and turn them into parking spaces,” Maljukan stresses

Former Director: “All They Want from FAMOS Is the Land and to Build Buildings”

Residents also point out that the land on which the new neighbourhood is planned is itself subject to disputed property and legal issues.

The regulatory plan concerns land that was previously registered as the property of FAMOS a.d. Istočno Sarajevo.

Under a 2024 decision by the Republic Administration for Geodetic and Property-Legal Affairs of Republika Srpska (RUGIPP), the land was transferred to the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža on the grounds that it had not been put to its intended use.

Residents consider the entire procedure before RUGIPP to have been unlawful, especially given that the land was intended to provide housing for workers. They point out that they themselves also invested in the construction of the neighbourhood and that the land was, in fact, put to its intended use.

Risto Dabić, the former general director of FAMOS at a time when the company employed thousands of people, recalls that in 2008 FAMOS was declared a state-owned company of strategic importance to Republika Srpska. Today, he says, it has been completely neglected and left to deteriorate.

“Now I am watching as they want to build a new neighbourhood right in front of former workers’ homes—a neighbourhood that will stand as a testimony that we were robbed and that we were unable to do anything about it. Unfortunately, the institutions that should have protected us and prevented what is happening have failed, as if they do not exist. The adoption of this regulatory plan is merely the final act of a social reality, or, I would say, a tragedy. We no longer produce anything in this city, even though this city was built around several companies that gave people hope that they could make a life here when there was nothing here, when this was nothing but open land,” Dabić told SPIN Info

He adds that FAMOS had a vision of employing people, providing them with a roof over their heads, and helping them move out of collective accommodation. Today, however, all that remains are debts owed to workers, unpaid wages, and plans for a residential development that have gone in the opposite direction from what they had envisioned.

Residents of the FAMOS settlement claim that there is no valid planning basis for the adoption of the “Škrbino Polje” Regulatory Plan.

The Spatial Plan of the City of East Sarajevo, as well as the Urban Plan for the areas of the then municipalities of Srpska Ilidža and Srpsko Sarajevo, expired in 2025.

“If there is no valid strategic planning document serving as the basis for adopting a regulatory plan, the legality of the entire plan-adoption procedure is seriously called into question,” states the complaint submitted by residents of the FAMOS settlement to the Republic Urban Planning, Construction and Environmental Inspectorate.

They are calling on the inspectorate to urgently act on their request, establish the alleged irregularities, and halt the procedure for adopting the “Škrbino Polje” Regulatory Plan in Istočna Ilidža.

Istočna Ilidža: “There Is Maximum Transparency, Cooperation and Understanding on Our Part”

The Municipality of Istočna Ilidža points out that responsibility for citizens’ comments regarding the potential construction of residential and other buildings lies with the entity responsible for drafting the plan, in this case UNIS Institute, based in Pale.

As for the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža, officials stress that the entire process is transparent and in accordance with the law.

“Citizens submitted their comments, and the entity responsible for drafting the plan responded as it did—some comments were accepted and others rejected. They (the citizens, ed.) consider that the changes were minimal. Whether they were minimal or as extensive as they believe they should have been is certainly debatable; in any case, the procedure is lawful,” Jelena Gotovac, Head of the Department for Spatial Planning and Ecology of the Municipality of Istočna Ilidža, explained in an interview with SPIN Info.

Regarding the expired spatial and urban plans, Gotovac says that the urban planning inspector determined that, at the time the procedure for drafting the regulatory plan was initiated, all the plans were valid, and that this had been explained to the residents during the public hearing.

Commenting on complaints about the existing infrastructure, Gotovac says that Mayor Marinko Božović instructed the municipal departments to visit the site together with the competent utility company.

“When they went to the site, the water utility company could not open a single manhole… In order to determine what the problem is, we will go out there again and talk to the residents, and address everything that is requested. There is maximum cooperation on our part,” Gotovac concluded.

The “Škrbino Polje” Regulatory Plan has still not been brought before the councillors of the Istočna Ilidža Municipal Assembly-