Last Monday, the manager responsible for Espai Barça, Jordi Llauradó, did not vote when it came to deciding which company the club would award the Camp Nou remodeling works to. The official explanation was that he had asked not to vote for “professional ethics” and “to avoid suspicion”, because he is in the construction business. Seen like this, the abstention could be understood, but if in the end such a high bar of incompatibility had to be applied to himself, it was already strange that Llauradó was the person chosen to take charge of Espai Barça.
But two days later, yesterday, Llauradó resigned as head of the works within the board of directors. Did the manager disagree with the award to the Turkish company Limak?
We are talking about Barça’s most important heritage project since the construction of Camp Nou (1954-1957) and, with all certainty, the most important of the next half century, hands down. The renovation of the stadium is estimated at €900 million. If we add the cost of the Johan Cruyff field (already inaugurated) and that of the new Palau Blaugrana (still to be built), we are talking about a project of 1.5 billion euros. In fact, Barça still does not have the money, which Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have to find for it, and it is also waiting for the go-ahead to be granted by the Barcelona City Council. In September, the choice of the UTE that was to direct the works was disputed by the Association of Architects of Catalonia.
For all that, given the magnitude of the investment and its repercussions, the Barça board should consider creating a regular and transparent accountability and certification mechanism for the works in front of the members. They are entitled to it and it would avoid suspicion.
Antoni Bassas is a journalist
