The Camp Nou reconstruction project has been underway since June 2023. Since then, Barcelona have played their home matches at Olimpic Lluis Companys. Since the start of construction, the Blaugrana board have set a completion date of before November 29, 2024. That is the time to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the club's founding.
To race against time, Barca has been granted a 24/7 construction permit by the local government. Although this has affected many people around, the club has temporarily accepted that and will have a plan to apologize to fans later. The most important thing is whether the project will be completed on time or not, which is something that even Chairman Joan Laporta cannot predict.
"We don't want to announce the official date of the project's completion because it could take place before or after the anniversary. Everyone can rest assured that when it is done, come and enjoy it.
Although there are many obstacles, everyone can rest assured that we will try to return as soon as possible. That is the motivation to help everyone try together" - President Joan Laporta shared at a press conference after the summer transfer market ended.
Initially, Barcelona had the idea of returning to Camp Nou on time, regardless of whether it was 100% completed or not. The club is even willing to accept that improvements will be used as much as possible. However, when surveying around the construction site, Barca's leaders found this to be unfeasible because everything was too messy.
A Barca spokesperson told The Athletic that the Camp Nou will have a more modern interior design than the exterior. Therefore, this project is very complicated.
Ana Ramon - a resident living near the stadium and also the head of Camp Nou neighborhood shared that local people have not felt that Camp Nou will be completed soon.
"They told us the stadium will reopen in December but could not guarantee the entrances were safe. We have accepted that this construction site will be constructed overnight. They need to respect that" - Ramon shared.
Initially, the construction was still taking place at night, but it caused too much trouble for those living nearby. The police have been called by the people many times and the project has had to stop construction before 10pm every day. After that, when the club had reached an agreement with the people, it was re-constructed 24/7, as long as it was not too noisy and not polluted by light.
To ensure harmony, the project will carry out heavy items from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. every day. Work that causes less noise such as running wires, installing electricity, etc. will be constructed overnight.
Barcelona is in a hurry. According to statistics from last year, holding the competition at Olimpic Lluis Companys will cost the club about 90 million Euros. This amount includes the loss of revenue compared to the organization of Camp Nou and the cost of organizing each match.
Meanwhile, the cost of the Barca stadium reconstruction project (called Espai Barca) will cost about 900 million for the entire Camp Nou stadium. This amount could even be up to 1.5 billion Euros if including the sub-fields and other infrastructure.
From now until the scheduled completion date, Barca has about 3 months left. Otherwise, they will be forced to postpone the plan to early 2025. If they can do it in time, the match against Valencia on January 26, 2025 will be the first time the " Catalan Giants" will play at an upgraded home stadium.
