Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has revealed that the budget for the Spanish LaLiga club’s Espai Barça project could reach €685m (£613m/$758m).
The Espai Barça project seeks to transform and integrate Barcelona’s stadia and arenas and the club completed the first part of the plan when Estadi Johan Cruyff opened last month.
The 6,000-seat stadium will be the new home of the Barça B and women’s teams, as well as the club’s U19 side when it plays in European competitions.
The wide-ranging project will also see the capacity of the main Camp Nou stadium increase to around 105,000, while the Barça Campus will be created to open the club’s facilities up to the city, remove architectural barriers and introduce measures to improve urban mobility around the stadium.
The budget for the project had initially been €600m but Bartomeu has confirmed this figure is now expected to rise.
“In 2014, we had a budget of €600m,” Bartomeu said. “Now we have specific projects and are ceding to the demands of the City Council, and the deviation could reach €685m. In the coming months we will hold an extraordinary meeting to address this issue of the new financing plan.
“The number for the budget has changed, because the costs are different to five years ago and we have increased the construction limit a little more. We will also have to deal with work in the district of Les Corts, which were not planned in 2014. The construction contracts will be signed in the next year or in a year and a half.”
Bartomeu also revealed that the demolition of the Minestadi, the former home of Barça B and the women’s team, will begin on September 24 with a commemorative event. The new Palau Blaugrana venue, which will house Barcelona’s basketball, handball, roller hockey and futsal teams, will be built on the Miniestadi site.
Image: FC Barcelona
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