Construction of national stadium in Vilnius stops again

The construction of the national stadium in Vilnius has been suspended and is expected to resume once negotiations on price indexation are completed.

According to the contract with the Vilnius municipality and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the issues of construction price indexation are currently being negotiated, which are of crucial importance for the project’s implementation, said Lukas Kavaliauskas, a representative of the stadium concessionaire Vilniaus Daugiafunkcis Kompleksas.

“Therefore, to use the funds efficiently, the scope of works at the national stadium construction site has been reduced to a minimum. Once agreements have been reached, work will continue. We want to assure you that we continue to strive for the continuation and completion of this project as foreseen in the contract,” he said in a comment sent to BNS.

The Prosecutor’s Office is currently conducting a pre-trial investigation into the possible misappropriation of assets by Šarūnas Stepukonis, former partner of the BaltCap Fund, which manages Vilniaus Daugiafunkcis Kompleksas. BaltCap fired him in November for financial mismanagement and turned to law enforcement.

The Vilnius Municipality confirmed to BNS that it has received a letter from the concessionaire stating that, despite the situation within the BaltCap Fund, the company is making efforts to implement the project in time.

The construction of the first phase of the stadium started in September by the construction company Naresta, with a contract value of 79 million euros. However, the construction cost of all the phases is currently undisclosed.

The initial construction of the national stadium started in 1987 and stopped six years later. In 2008, a further 33 million euros were invested into the project.

In 2015, the project was interrupted again after the Public Procurement Office declared its tender illegal.

The unfinished stadium was demolished in 2022, and a permit for the construction of the new stadium was issued to Vilniaus Daugiasunkcis Kompleksas in May 2023.