Umka - Location and Geography

Location and Geography

Umka is located 22 km south-west of Belgrade, on the right bank of the Sava river. It is a crossroads on the Belgrade-Obrenovac freeway, with roads connecting it from here with another important freeway to the east, the Ibarska magistrala.

Umka was a separate municipality, comprising surrounding villages, but in 1960 it was dissolved and divided between Čukarica and Barajevo municipalities (villages of Meljak and Vranić).

From the geological aspect, the location of the settlement is highly problematic. Entire right slope of the Sava in that section is a very active mass wasting area. This causes the damages on the houses and the freeway which sink and get ruptured constantly. Damages are being repaired and patched but the massive project of stopping down the terrain is found to be too expensive at the moment. Addition to this problem is a route of the future Belgrade-Adriatic highway, as the Belgrade City government plans to conduct the road on the left bank of the Sava, in the flat Syrmia region, bypassing the mass wasting area, while the government of Serbia pushes the right bank route. Ensuing debate became highly political and resulted in open clash between the Belgrade's mayor Nenad Bogdanović and Serbian minister for capital investments Velimir Ilić in 2006.