The status of Bukele's big projects at the end of his first term
Hospital Rosales construction site in April The public relations machine of the government of Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele thrives on touting major development and infrastructure projects. From time to time, we need to check in on how these projects are actually faring. Here is their status as he concludes five years in office. The Chinese projects . The major projects which are the farthest along are those which the Salvadoran government has not had to raise the money for because they are donations by the Chinese government. These were gifts announced by Bukele after his 2019 visit to Beijing. National Library . The new national library in the heart of the historic center of San Salvador was completed at the end of 2023. Read about my tour of the library here . Water purification and extraction from Ilopango . An announcement was made in November 2022, that the project to purify water from lake Ilopango will take the form of eight deep wells, pumping from underground sourc