Continuing our series of reports on the twelve World Cup 2014 hosts, we move to Brazil´s northeast and one of its most famous and traditional cities, Salvador. Known for its natural beauty and welcoming people, Salvador is one of the principal tourist cities of Brazil offering a tranquil harbour and beaches for all tastes, while its Carnaval sits alongside Rio´s as the most famous and animated in the country.
Capital of Bahia, a state offering hundreds of resorts and tourists destinations up and down its extensive coast, Salvador has a current population of close to 3 million in the municipal area.
For the World Cup Salvador is aiming to be one of the principal host cities, securing some of the most important matches and receiving a big portion of Cup tourists. Key 2014 projects include the renovation of the Fonte Nova stadium and surrounds, an airport upgrade while the city´s port facilities are also gaining an extensive facelift as part of a wider program covering eight of Brazil´s chief ports.
For the stadium project, the old Fonte Nova, inaugurated in 1951 as Octávio Mangabeira Stadium, has been completely demolished with the new version to be built on the same site. Owned by the Bahia State Government, the new facility will have a capacity of 50,000 (down from the original 60,000) including 70 corporate hospitality areas. The stadium will be managed by Fonte Nova Negócios e Participações S/A, a group created by construction giants OAS & Oderbrecht with assistance from Amsterdam Arena, on a 35 year concession.
The initial forecasted cost of R$591.7 million remains in place, however a number of reports in recent months have predicted this will rise to over R$800 million. The project is a public private partnership between the state government and a OAS & Oderbrecht consortium.
The state government and developers are still committed to a December 2012 completion date despite a range of delays to this point.