Busije

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Busije (Serbian Cyrillic: Бусије) is an suburban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Zemun.

1 Location
2 History
3 Characteristics
4 See also

[edit] Location

Busije is a sub-neighborhood of Ugrinovci, the only separate settlement in the municipality (urban section of Zemun is administratively part of the Belgrade proper). It is located halfway between Ugrinovci and Batajnica, westernmost section of the Belgrade proper.

[edit] History

Just like the other similar settlement, Grmovac, origins of Busije (Serbian for 'ambush') date from 1997 when the Zemun's municipal leadership (ruled by the Serbian Radical Party and headed by Vojislav Šešelj) decided to sell empty lots on a barren meadow to the refugees from Croatia which were forced out after the Operation Storm in 1995. Prices were low and many people bought the land not paying attention that the area was not designated for urban development and the lack of any infrastructure and additional problem is caused by the abundant subterranean waters.

[edit] Characteristics

The city government considers the settlement a 'wild' one as it was build without any permits or plans. It is missing basic infrastructure (including schools, ambulances, post offices, etc) but as inhabitants began to legalize their houses (majority is still either illegal or in a process of legalization), city government decided to make a regulatory plan for Busije in 2007. In 2006 the streets were paved and bus line connecting Busije to Batajnica was introduced and a church dedicated to Cyrill and Methodius was built.

It is estimated that some 750 families (3,000 people) live in Busije (2006), out of which 90% are refugees from Croatia.

The settlement remains the subject of a dispute between the Radical's municipal government (claiming that city government is not doing anything to make life easier for the population) and Belgrade city government which claims that municipal government had no rights to sell those lots but they did it to take money from the people and thus created a problem.