Construction contract for El Salvador's national stadium reportedly close to being awarded

Construction of El Salvador’s new national sports stadium, financed by a donation agreed with China in 2019, will start in the coming months, according to the country’s ambassador to Beijing, Aldo Álvarez.

“The stadium´s tender is at the contract awarding stage because one company did the design and another one will build it,” Álvarez was quoted as saying by daily El Economista, without giving a precise date. “The design has been completed and the construction is close to being awarded.” 

The construction contractor will be defined by China, according to elsalvador.com news outlet, and work is expected to last approximately four years. 

The stadium could be built on the grounds of the old military academy – which will be rebuilt in another location – in San Salvador municipality Antiguo Cuscatlán, the president of the national sports institute (INDES), Yamil Bukele, said in January.

President Nayib Bukele released some more details at the end of 2021. “The new military academy will have double the space and better facilities. El Salvador’s national stadium will have capacity for 50,000 fans, all seated (Cuscatlán stadium has the capacity to seat 34,000 according to the new rules released by FIFA),” he said on his Twitter account in December that year.

The design of the new stadium was tendered out by the Chinese government and was ready by the end of 2021. 

Other projects that are part of the cooperation agreement between China and El Salvador include the new national library and La Libertad port, which according to Álvarez are close to being completed. 

The Ilopango lake water treatment plant – another project agreed with China – will also see the start of construction soon. 

Photo: A rendering of the stadium (Source: Presidency of El Salvador).