Bolivia has long wanted to turn Viru Viru, the country’s main airport, into a regional connecting hub. Supreme Decree No. 5733 of 30 September 2026 gives it the legal instrument to do so. The decree declares the project a matter of strategic national interest and public priority, and authorises Navegación Aérea y Aeropuertos Bolivianos (NAABOL), the state agency that runs the country’s airports, to contract in Bolivia or abroad for everything the hub needs, from design to expansion.
The government’s numbers explain the interest. Mauricio Zamora, the minister of public works, services and housing, speaks of an investment of $250m to $300m by the winning bidder, of tripling the airport’s capacity from about 4m to 12m passengers a year, and of a scheme in which the state would share in revenues. “It is a concession. This is not a privatisation,” he said. For an airport operator or an infrastructure fund with experience in the region, the decree opens a concrete opportunity. The terms will be set by the regulations NAABOL must approve in the coming weeks, and it pays to start preparing now.
What the decree provides
The text is short and direct. Article 2 declares the design, construction, equipping, operation, maintenance, modernisation and expansion of the hub a matter of strategic national interest and public priority. Article 3 authorises NAABOL to procure goods, works and services for those purposes, in Bolivia or abroad, under a dedicated “comparison of offers” regime. The regime applies to contracts intended exclusively for the project and will take effect once NAABOL approves its implementing regulations by formal resolution (Resolución Expresa), which it must do within 30 working days of the decree’s publication.
The legal footing is constitutional. Bolivia’s constitution reserves to central government, as an exclusive competence, the construction, maintenance and administration of international airports. NAABOL, a decentralised public body created in 2021 under the Ministry of Public Works, is charged with running the country’s airports, and the decree places the project in its hands. Its highest executive authority answers for each procurement from start to finish. Signed contracts are sent to the Comptroller General and registered on SICOES, the state procurement system, which leaves a public record of every award and allows for the external audit provided for in Law No. 1178 on Government Administration and Control.
The decree also clears the regulatory ground. It repeals Supreme Decrees No. 4040 of 2019 and No. 4347 of 2020, which had framed the project as a joint-investment strategic alliance under Law No. 516 on Investment Promotion, and under which a memorandum of understanding was signed with ADP International in 2019. From now on the hub has a single framework and a single agency in charge.
Why foreign investors may take note
The first attraction is scope. The authorisation covers the airport’s full cycle rather than construction alone. It includes operation and maintenance, which opens the way to long-term relationships, and it allows contracting abroad, so foreign companies can take part directly. According to the decree’s own recitals, the dedicated regime reflects the project’s complexity and strategic importance.
The second is location. Santa Cruz de la Sierra is a few hours’ flight from Lima, Santiago and São Paulo, and the government presents the hub as a passenger and cargo node at the centre of the continent. President Rodrigo Paz has tied it to an open-skies policy and to the bi-oceanic corridors through which he hopes to link the Brazilian and Peruvian markets via Bolivia.
The third is political backing, and the interest the project has already drawn. The president announced the tender at the opening of Expocruz, Santa Cruz’s large trade fair, and said in August that international organisations had committed funds to make the hub a reality. According to the Ministry of Public Works, early this year Corporación América Airports submitted a proposal and representatives of Canada’s Aecon inspected the airport, while Emirates and Turkish Airlines expressed interest. The minister says the process will give priority to international experience.
There is commercial room to grow, too. Boliviana de Aviación (BoA), the state carrier, accounts for about 75% of the seats on offer at Viru Viru this October, according to Cirium data, and the president has said the winning company will have to bring in airlines. An operator with ties to international carriers and a record of developing routes will start with an advantage.
How to prepare
NAABOL’s regulations are the next milestone. If the decree was published on the day it was signed, the deadline falls around mid-November. The regulations will set out the requirements for taking part, the evaluation criteria and how bids are to be submitted, and the tender documents will define the contract model. Since the government has described a concession with the state sharing in revenues, investors will want to see how the term, the operator’s remuneration, the allocation of risk, guarantees and dispute resolution are handled, the elements around which financing for a project of this size is structured.
In the meantime there is useful work to be done. Interested groups can begin forming consortia that pair airport-operating experience with financing capacity, and identify local partners for civil works and supplies. Following announcements from NAABOL and the Ministry of Public Works over the coming weeks will allow bidders to reach the tender with their proposals well advanced.
With Decree 5733, the Viru Viru hub has its own procurement framework, an agency in charge and a first firm deadline. For those who want to compete for it, the coming weeks are for preparation.
