El Salvador may be broke but it’s still throwing $200M at Bitcoin Beach
![](data:image/svg+xml;utf-8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="800" height="534" />)
El Salvador’s government has earmarked $203 million for infrastructure improvements near the so-called “Bitcoin Beach” in the region of La Libertad.
The news is curious in the context of El Salvador’s plummeting creditworthiness, major delays in bond offerings, sovereign debt at 40 cents on the dollar, repeated warnings from the nation’s largest creditor to reverse its adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender, and escalating gang violence that prompted the country’s president to threaten starvation for gang prisoners.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele claims that La Libertad will use the cash injection to build a shopping center, parking area, beach club, and treatment plant in a 15,000 square-meter area. Bukele’s administration also plans to expand 21 kilometers of highway in “Surf City” to four lanes.
Administrators heralded the use of hydraulic concrete, which comes with a higher upfront cost but lasts longer than asphalt. How much of the $203 million is attributable to the marginal expense of better concrete was not disclosed.
Other improvements included new bike paths and improvements to drainage systems and bridges. In all, Bukele aims to support tourism in the pro-bitcoin region.
Source:
5 comments