Urban Municipalities

 

An urban municipality is a part of the territory of the City of Belgrade, in which certain operations of local self-government laid down by the City Charter are run. Pursuant to the Constitution, legislation, present Charter and bylaws of the urban municipality, the citizens participate in conducting operations of the urban municipality through the councilors elected to the City municipal assembly, civil initiative, local citizens’ meeting and referendum.

The bodies of the urban municipality are:
- Municipal Assembly
- District Council Chairman
- Municipal Council

The number of councilors in the Municipal Assembly ranges from 19 to 75 councilors.

The District Council Chairman presides over the Municipal Assembly, and he/she is a chairperson of the Municipal Council. The Municipal Assembly elects the District Council Chairman among the municipal councilors.

The Municipal Council is composed of the District Council Chairman, Deputy District Council Chairman and at the most 11 members. The Municipal Council members are elected by the Municipal Assembly among both councilors and citizens further to the proposal by the District Council Chairman.

The urban municipalities are conditionally divided (in relation to their geographical position and powers) in 17 urban municipalities:

Urban Municipalities
Čukarica
Novi Beograd
Palilula
Rakovica
Savski venac
Stari grad
Voždovac
Vračar
Zemun
Zvezdara
Barajevo
Grocka
Lazarevac
Mladenovac
Obrenovac
Sopot
Surčin

The powers of the urban municipality include:
- Bringing of decisions on the organization and work of the urban municipality bodies, the budget, and annual financial report;
- Deciding on constituting of a local community, further to the opinion obtained from the citizens, and in accordance with the decision of the urban municipality assembly on the method of constituting, operations, and financing of the operations of a local community;
- Providing its opinions regarding the urban development plans that are adopted for the municipal territory and the Regional Physical Plan of the City;
- Leasing of the building land in accordance with the legislation and decision of the City, with the aim of constructing buildings/facilities up to 800m2 of the gross area;
- Making of the first-instance rulings on construction and/or reconstruction of buildings/facilities less than 800m2 of the gross area, and conversion of the common premises of a housing building into dwelling units or commercial premises, and deciding on erection of temporary buildings on public grounds (such as kiosks and/or minor prefabricated buildings) in compliance with the decision and plan that are adopted by the City;
- Carrying out of the procedure of eviction of the illegally moved in persons into flats and/or common premises within apartment buildings;
- Looking after the construction, maintenance, management, and use of rural, country, and other unclassified roads;
- Regulating and providing of the use of the commercial premises that the municipality manages, deciding on the amount of commercial premises rents, and supervising of the commercial space use;
- Looking after the development of catering, handicrafts, tourism, and trade in the municipal territory;
- Planning and undertaking of measures in case of natural and other disasters within the urban municipality, and creating of conditions for the elimination of their consequences for the purpose of protection of the citizens and material resources;
- Organization of administering affairs of the legal protection of the municipal rights and interests;
- Protecting and improving of the environment and looking after the conservation, use and improvement of the areas with natural medicinal properties;
- Looking after and proposing of measures for planning and maintenance of the façades of apartment and/or office buildings, green areas, children’s playgrounds, public lighting facilities, and traffic signs;
- Looking after the provision of public information to the citizens on the issues of importance to the life and work of the citizens in the urban municipality;
- Provision of rendering the legal assistance to citizens regarding the exercising of their rights, in accordance with the legislation;
- Regulation of the organization, acting, and operation of conciliation councils;
- Constituting of bodies, organizations, and/or services needed by the urban municipality, regulating of their organization and work, and setting up of enterprises;
- Implementation of regulations and bylaws of the City and the urban municipality.

In addition to the above operations, the urban municipalities of Barajevo, Grocka, Lazarevac, Mladenovac, Obrenovac, and Sopot:
- Adopt urban development plans for their respective territories, except for the master plan and the primary facility plans of the uniform City infrastructure system, and issue enactments containing conditions for physical planning based on the plans they adopt;
- Adopt the first-instance rulings for the construction and/or reconstruction of buildings/facilities they issue bylaws regarding the space planning requirements based on the plans adopted by the municipalities;
- Provide the lease of municipal building land to be used for construction of projects envisaged by urban development plans they adopt, and adopt the plan for erection of temporary buildings on public grounds (kiosks and minor prefabricated buildings);
- Provide conditions for operation and development of public utility services (production and supply of water, gas, heating and thermoelectric energy, maintenance of cemeteries and carrying out of funerary services, carrying out of chimney-sweeping services, market-place services, as well as for planning of public green areas, etc.) and for their carrying out, they, as a rule, set up public enterprises;
- Look after the construction, maintenance, and use of local roads, streets, and other public facilities of importance to the urban municipality.