According to a 2006 Technical Control report reviewed by Forbes Serbia, the reconstruction of the General Staff and Ministry of Defense buildings in Belgrade was deemed both technically and economically feasible.
A team of experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering proposed a rational solution to ensure the structural stability of the bomb-damaged buildings until full restoration. The plan involved controlled partial demolitions to create stable structural units, particularly the removal of severely damaged sections and those above the sidewalks on Nemanjina Street. However, this proposal was never fully implemented, and the limited repair work that followed was delayed and incomplete.
Professor Dušan Najdanović, one of the authors of the report, maintains that the buildings can still be restored and rejects claims that they are in danger of collapsing. He also disputes the government’s position that reconstruction would be too expensive, estimating that a full restoration would cost several tens of millions of euros.
Najdanović concluded that the main obstacle has always been a lack of funding and political will, not technical feasibility, warning that demolishing the complex would be a major mistake.
