Boca Juniors issued an official statement following the evolution of a bill that contemplates adding the candy box to a list of protected properties in the City of Buenos Aires that would prevent reforms from being carried out in its structureas pointed out by the current board of directors headed by Juan Roman Riquelme.
As published Infobaefrom the Xeneize They sent a note addressed to the members of the corresponding commissions so that review your position regarding a possible expansion in the short and medium term, something that will be discussed. On Friday night, the club Ribera He released the statement on his social networks, recounting the situation regarding his legendary football temple.
“On Tuesday, October 8, we requested by note the non-inclusion of La Bombonera in the aforementioned Catalog, taking into account our intention and desire to expand its capacity. This request was mentioned at the meeting on Wednesday, and our request was incorporated into the minutes,” they reported from Boca.
Then, they explained that from the blue and gold institution they are permanently working to improve The Bomboneraso include the stadium Alberto J. Armando on the list of protected properties would prevent new expansion works.
Currently, the Catalog is made up of around 5 thousand properties and in this project it is planned to add about 4,276 more properties, which have urban-environmental, aesthetic-architectural and historical-testimonial values, recognizing sets of pieces of reference value for the context and/or unique buildings. But from Boca they tried to have a special treatment regarding the conservation of the structure of the Alberto J. Armando stadium.
The president of the Commission, Edgardo Alifraco (Freedom Advances)who was also a candidate for member on the opposition list in the Boca Juniors elections at the end of 2023, warned about the institution’s communication: “The club alleged that it is in the process of restructuring the stadium, which at one point is real since a reform project has been in the commission since last year and in parliamentary status.”
At the same time, the commission member Juan Pablo Modarelli (Union for the Homeland) He also spoke on the subject and said: “We received the note in our block and we understood that the request is reasonable precisely based on the fact that the club is evaluating an expansion. We should evaluate as a legislative body what possibility this legislature can find so that this work can be done, perhaps by lowering the level of protection that is being given or evaluating what tools we can carry out so as not to hinder something that is public knowledge and that is has been working for a long time, which is the expansion of the candy box”.
This project was part of the Modification of the Urban Planning Code, however, during the debate in committee, it was decided to separate the issue from that file to give particular and specific treatment to the “Catalog of Protected Properties”, also seeking to maximize the instances of participation citizen, attentive to the implications that said cataloging generates on the multiplicity of owners and the duty of protection that falls on them.
This medium had access to a document that certifies that the bill that includes the Bombonera among the properties was established in 2014 and had been presented 15 years ago by Teresa de Anchorena, who in 2009 was president of the Heritage Commission of the Buenos Aires Legislature and member of the Civic Coalition party.
La Bombonera, inaugurated in 1940, belongs to the buildings from before 1941: for this reason, appears within the referred catalog as does the stadium Monumental of River Plate, the Tomás Adolfo Ducó of Hurricane and Ricardo Etcheverri of Ferro Carril Oesteamong others. It was clarified to Infobae that the Antonio Vespucio Liberti belongs to a lower category, with precautionary and non-structural protection like that of the Bombonera, which allowed the millionaire board of directors to carry out the latest renovations.
During the meeting, various topics were raised to think about during the legislative process, such as what sanctions those who publish without taking the Catalog into consideration will receive; major penalties for those who break the law; change the look and articulate the environments with their green spaces, and that all this is through active listening to the neighbors of each commune to generate more dynamism and independence. Beyond all the work planned for the future, it was agreed to move forward with its treatment in first reading. The process includes holding a public hearing and finally a second reading vote.
The complete statement from Boca Juniors:
We want to inform all our members and fans that on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, in a joint meeting of the Urban Planning and Architectural Heritage commissions of the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, progress was made in the treatment of a Bill promoted by the Executive Branch of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires that incorporates the Alberto J. Armando Stadium into the Definitive Catalog of Protected Properties of the City under Structural Protection.
Previously, on Tuesday, October 8, we requested by note the non-inclusion of La Bombonera in the aforementioned Catalog, taking into account our intention and desire to expand its capacity. This request was mentioned at Wednesday’s meeting, and our request was incorporated into the minutes.
We are constantly working to improve our Stadium, as can be seen in each home match. Inclusion in the aforementioned Catalog would bring limitations for development, since it requires maintaining the original structure, thus preventing expansion of its volume.
For this reason, we ask the Legislature of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires to grant our request not to include La Bombonera in the Catalog in question, so that in this way we can continue beautifying the Club and the La Boca neighborhood, our neighborhood, through the work projects presented and those that are under development.
We feel the obligation to inform our members and fans of this situation. We will continue working with commitment to defend the interests of the Club so that we have a BOMBONER that is more modern, spacious and comfortable every day as our fans deserve.