星空传媒

IIf you鈥檝e ever looked at Transparency International鈥檚 Corruption Perspectives Index, you鈥檒l know that Serbia is not the easiest place in the world to do business. The 2008 Index put it 85th out of 180 countries: it scored 3.4, compared with 9.3 for the cleanest nations (Denmark, Sweden and New Zealand). But Dragan Zupanjevac, the Serbian deputy ambassador to the UK, is adamant this perception is exaggerated: 鈥淭here is corruption,鈥� he says, 鈥渂ut Serbia is a European country, with sophistication.鈥� Well, he is on a mission to attract British construction companies to his country after all 鈥� but does he have a point?

Certainly before the global downturn took hold, Serbia looked an appealing market. After 40 years of communism followed by 10 years of war, it had a budding tourism industry and a growing middle class. Last year GDP grew by 8.7%, making it the fastest growing economy in the region.

The so-called 鈥淏alkan tiger鈥� was also ranked as the third most attractive country for foreign direct investment by Pricewaterhouse Coopers.

This growth is not going to be wiped out by the recession, either. The Serbian Central Bank predicts GDP will continue to grow by at least 2% in 2009. This is partly because Serbian banks are more conservative than most and thus eshewed the higher risk investments that have done so much damage in the UK.

Best of all, its construction industry looks relatively robust. Zupanjevac estimates that more than 鈧�7.9bn (拢6.9bn) will be spent on construction in the next five years. In January, the government announced plans to spend 鈧�4bn (拢3.5bn) on infrastructure over the next four years.

So why are so few UK construction companies already here? Greek, Italian, Austrian and German firms have been steadily ploughing money into the region since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, but Brits seem to have been put off by rumours of excessive red tape around planning, the fact that Serbia is not yet an EU member status and its troubled history.

Speak to Brits who are actually working in the country, however, and they will tell you that are ways of avoiding these problems. Simon Hindshaw, Scott Wilson鈥檚 regional director for central and eastern Europe, says it is important to choose your clients carefully. In fact, ideally, you should only do projects backed by the EU. 鈥淵ou should be wary of just giving money over to local authorities,鈥� he says.

Hindshaw says Scott Wilson only ever does projects funded by the European Investment Bank, because the assessment of tenders takes place in London or Luxembourg, rather than Serbia. According to Hindshaw, if it鈥檚 done in Serbia, there is a danger that whoever pays the most could win the contract. 鈥淭here tends to be a better chance of having a clean tender if it鈥檚 done by a European institution.鈥�

Johnson believes EC Harris has minimised problems by setting up a local office and employing locals. 鈥淚f a UK firm just marched straight in without any local knowledge, there may be some issues,鈥� he says.

Planning permission, however, remains a big stumbling block. Problems arise because of Serbia鈥檚 communist past. 鈥淭here is a big issue surrounding land title,鈥� says Johnson. 鈥淧eople will challenge new office blocks that are built, claiming they owned the land before the communist state took it over. It can be a big problem for developers.鈥�

Aleksander Djukic, marketing manager at PWC in Serbia, agrees that 鈥渓aws regulating this field are very complex, and getting a planning can be a long process.鈥� But new legislation to speed up the process is in the pipeline. And while that鈥檚 coming through, 鈥渙ne-stop鈥� consultan