Official – the multifunctional complex will be finished in 3 years

The curse of the National Stadium in Vilnius has been lifted – the concession agreement for the multifunctional complex (MC) that has entered into effect today provides that the stadium will be built and start operating in 3 years. That is the responsibility of the concessionaire. Accordingly, the end of construction works of the multifunctional complex with a national stadium is planned for April 2025.

According to Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius, the current difficult economic and raw materials’ situation has only confirmed that the decision to form a multifunctional complex in the mode of concession would be correct and far-sighted.

“If we had chosen the mode of public procurements, the myth of the national stadium would have continued without real opportunity to implement it. Now we already have a particular term – in three years after today, Šeškinė Hill will turn into the biggest sport complex in Lithuania, – says Vilnius mayor.

“The agreement coming into effect is an important step in the project. This legal term covers numerous invisible procedures not only in local, but also in international institutions, whose blessing is necessary for the project to move forward. However, the most important thing is that the agreement’s conditions oblige the parties formally to turn the sport complex into reality within particular time frames. On the other hand, in order to save the time, we (together with the concessionaire) started some site’s preparation and designing works, as well as negotiations with UEFA, before the agreement has entered into effect,” – says Vilnius Vice Mayor Valdas Benkunskas.

According to the project’s terms, it is provided that all the works of demolition of former constructions and preparation of site would be finished before September. The technical project will be prepared until January 2023. The permit for construction works should be also received before then, while the factual construction works are scheduled from January 2023 until April 2025. The beginning of the complex’ operation is planned in June 2025.

“The agreement’s entering into effect means the end of the stage that was very meaningful for us and demanded for lots of efforts. The process has been happening in the unstable environment that is difficult to forecast, thus, now we are using the strategy “step by step”. The demolition and site-preparation works should be finished as scheduled, therefore, at present all the efforts are directed to successful completion of the designing stage,” – noted partner of BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, Mr. Šarūnas Stepukonis.

According to the conditions for the agreement’s entry into effect, Vilnius City merged individual land lots last year already and rented the territory of 22 ha territory at Ozo str. 27 to UAB “BaltCap” for the entire construction period and the concessionaire was exempted from the land’s rent fee. This year, the agreement about the conditions related to future solutions of the project was made.

The concessionaire, UAB “BaltCap”, chose the main suppliers for the project. The technical project of the complex will be prepared by the Lithuanian company “Cloud architektai” that will also engage the British architectural company “Populous”. The contracted works will be performed by UAB “Veikmės statyba”, while the object’s management and maintenance services will fall under the responsibility of the Estonian company SOL Baltics OÜ.

It is planned to build eight structures at Ozo str. 27. They will include more objects: a national stadium with a sport museum inside, a sport centre with courts for basketball, handball, gymnastics and boxing, and a football pitch on the roof. Two more football training pitches by the sport centre, a warming-up zone for track-and-field athletics, a track-and-field athletics stadium, a cultural centre, and a kindergarten with 300 places will be constructed.