Rajac, the Harvest and the Investors – Bangladeshi Company Which is Building the Dhaka Subway Wants to Build the First Hotel, Price per Are Growing

The first association to Rajac is the famous Rajac harvest. Someone might also think back to the Battle of Kolubara, mountaineering, potatoes and… that would be it. Because this mountain, which is in fact not a mountain at all, but one of the mountain peaks of Suvobor, is not (yet) on the radar of mass tourism like Zlatobor and Divcibare are.

Rajac doesn’t even feature any hotels, only one mountaineering home, a former workers’ resort and only several private apartment facilities.

However, since the outbreak of the coronavirus, the interest in Rajac has increased as well, which is slowly attracting attention from investors. Those familiar with the matter say that the price of construction land on Rajac has doubled in the past years and that one are (100 m2) is now priced at around EUR 600 on average, which can also be seen from the ads.

This is confirmed for eKapija by Milan Simonovic, the owner of Simonovic Nekretnine, which operates on Rajac.

– The demand has grown, mostly in the past half a year. Larger parcels for the construction of vacation house complexes are in demand the most, and the average price ranges between EUR 500 and 600 per are – Simonovic says and adds that the land is the most expensive near the location where the famous harvest takes place.

According to him, the reason for the increased interest in Rajac is that, when the coronavirus started, people, and increasingly, investors as well, discovered this mountain as a place with wonderful nature, which is still not as overcrowded as Zlatibor.

– Rajac is still a mountain and that is its main asset, unlike Zlatibor, which has already become a city – Simonovic emphasizes and says that the realization of the sale of land is following the demand to a “decent” extent.

According to information available to Vladimir Ivanovic, the director of the Tourism Organization of the Municipality of Ljig, until recently, one are on Rajac cost EUR 300-400, and construction land is now being sold at prices up to EUR 1,000 per are.

According to him, people are discovering Rajac as a location which has a lot to offer, and it also has potentials for a further growth.

– Recently, a facility in a more luxury category was raised, with 7 apartments, “Rajacki Konaci”, in the center of Rajac, near the Rajac fountain, and there is an interest, people come over the weekend, mostly mountaineers. Rajac currently has around 250 beds, in the mountaineering home “Cika Dusko Jovanovic” from 1953, the former workers’ resort Kolubara and several private tourist facilities. We need at least just as many beds, it would be ideal to have a total of around 500 to 1,000, because Rajac is not a large space, and 1,200 hectares comprise a protected area where construction is not allowed – Ivanovic says and adds that there is free building land above the fountain and at the foot of the mountain. One problem regarding construction on Rajac, however, are the urban plans.

The deputy president of the Municipality of Ljig, Milomir Radojicic, told our portal that the spatial plan for Rajac was close to being completed and that it only needed to be certified.

– That will provide the basis for the long-awaited investments on Rajac – Radojicic says.

Ivanovic, however, points out that, even once that’s done, a detailed regulation plan needs to be adopted, so as to enable construction activities there.

He also reminds that Ljig does not control the entirety of Rajac – there’s also the Municipality of Gornji Milanovac, to which the peak of Rajac belongs.

– Although the Ljig part is more attractive, because it provides a view to three sides – to both Avala and Kosmaj, to Ovcar and Kablar and to Rudnik, the Municipality of Gornji Milanovac, as the richer municipality, is already preparing the detailed regulation plan. But in any case, it’s only a matter of time when investments on a larger scale start on Rajac – Ivanovic says and estimates that the mountain is yet to expand in terms of tourism.

– The electricity, the internet, roads, water springs are all there, and the construction of a sewer and a waste water treatment facility in the village of Kadina Luka is supposed to start soon. We have gained a lot by getting an interchange right next to Ljig, 10 km away from Rajac, so now you can travel from Belgrade to Rajac for lunch rather than to Visnjicka Banja, in around 40 minutes by the Milos Veliki highway from New Belgrade and in an hour to Rajac itself. It is a serious infrastructural advantage compared to, say, Stara Planina, which is beautiful, but you can’t go there for one day. What’s important is for the construction to be well planned, so that there’s no urban planning mess like on some other mountains – he adds.

Milomir Radojicic also says that the interest of investors in investing in tourist capacities on Rajac is constant:

– We already have more demands for Rajac than for Ljig. For example, Alco Group wants to build a mini hotel with a resort for children. Kolor Gradnja from Belgrade is seeking land near the peak of Rajac for the construction of 10 mountain bungalows, and a company from Bangladesh which is building the subway in Dhaka has expressed an interest in building a large hotel, they are delighted with how little time it takes to travel from the Belgrade airport to Rajac, they also want to buy the hotel in Ljig that the Government is soon to put up for sale – Radojicic says for eKapija.

He also says that, in a month, the state project of the construction of a sewer, first in Rajac and then in Ljig itself, should begin.

– The agreement has already been signed, the job will be done by a Chinese company – Radojicic says and adds that it is only the sewer that is still the infrastructural problem on Rajac:

– The road is connected to the Milos Veliki highway, the waterworks are the old Rajac ones, but the capacities can increase in line with the needs, we have done the electrical installations, the problem of garbage disposal has also been solved, we have procured two garbage trucks and now garbage is no longer piled up there. As a municipality, we will also provide the future investors with discounts on connections to the sewer, power and water systems – says the deputy president of the municipality, who expects Rajac and Ljig with it to flourish when the urban planning is done.

Investors “discovering” Ljig as well

Radojicic says for eKapija that the construction of an access street to the industrial zone in Ljig is in progress and that it will be accessed directly from the Ljig interchange. – The job is worth RSD 50 million. The plan is to bring investors to the industrial zone upon the completion of the job, from the New Year – he says and adds that the zone spreads on 16 hectares and that an expansion toward Moravci is planned as well.

According to him, Bulgarian investors, who want to build a foundry, as well as a producer of stainless steel pipes, have already expressed an interest.

What Rajac offers

The famous harvest – a unique event and one of the oldest ones in Serbia, which has been organized by the Tourism Organization of Ljig for over 50 years.

The famous Kolubara – Rajac was the breakthrough point for the Austro-Hungarian army during the famous WW1 Battle of Kolubara, which remains an example of the military genius of the Serbian General Zivojin Misic. The monument was raised by the “1.300 kaplara” Association in honor of the brave participants in the Battle of Kolubara. The director of the Tourism Organization of Ljig, Vladimir Ivanovic, notes that Rajac has over 20 marked footpaths, one of which goes from Rajac to Divcibare, whereas one goes past the birth house of Zivojin Misic in the village of Struganik in the Municipality of Mionica, which leans on Rajac.

Paragliding – One of the most interesting set-off points for paragliders, in addition to Nis and Vrsac, is located on Rajac, where state tournaments are also held.

– It has also been included in the spatial plan now and the intention is to develop and build a road to there – Ivanovic says.

Rajac caves – There are 12 speleology structures on Rajac, and three stand out as the biggest and most interesting ones – Mala Bezdana, Velika Bezdana and the so-called Pop Purina Crkva.

Crkvine waterfall – It is located beneath Rajac in a forest, it is around 8 meters tall and it creates interesting water figures.

Climbing rocks – In the village of Kadina Luka, the abandoned granite mines have been adapted into climbing rocks, and a fast-climbing tournament is also held there.

Damned Jerina’s Grave – In the Vavedenje Monastery in the village of Slavkovica, a reconstructed holy site dating back from the late 14th century, at the very foot of Rajac, archaeologists discovered stone sarcophaguses in the late 1980s, where, it is assumed, Despot Djuradj Brankovic and his wife, known in folk poetry as Damned Jerina, are buried, and DNA analyses of the remains are currently being done in order to prove this.

B. Petrovic