It will be a construction 241 thousand square meters, 17 levels, two underground floors and a heliport. It will be on El Dorado Avenue, in the National Administrative Center - CAN.
Its construction will take four years and will generate about 12 thousand direct and indirect jobs.
According to Minister Velásquez, this new project is a symbol of strength of a new country that is under construction, it represents a defense building without fences for the community.
In the midst of a symbolic act, the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, led the event in which the first stone of the construction of the Fortaleza Project was laid, the new building of the Ministry of Defense, and the Military Forces in Bogotá, will have an investment of 1.5 billion pesos and will be ready for the second semester of 2026.
The head of the Ministry of Defense assured this will be a majestic building, “looking at the mock-up of the project, indeed, we observe a Diamond shaped design with everything that this means, an indestructible force, it is a fortress. The Fortaleza (also means strength in English) of a new country that we are building, a defense building without barriers, a building without fences for the community.”
The Fortaleza Project is considered to be the most important engineering complex in the Defense Sector in the last 50 years. It is estimated that during the four years of its construction it will generate about 12,000 jobs, 5,000 direct and 7,000 indirect. The building will have 17 levels, two underground floors, a heliport, there are 241 thousand square meters that will host 10,000 people daily.
This project that began to take shape since 2012, saw great progress in 2021 when the implosion of the old structure was carried out, given that in previous years different situations took place with the Ministry of War building built in 1962, which required immediate intervention.
“Now, the National Government has signed the Government-to-Government agreement with Canada, which leads to executing the reconstruction phase of the project with the appropriation of the designs, the adjustment of the execution schedule, the formulation of a procurement management plan and the establishment of an updated budget to the current market,” the Minister said.
In the same way, this new structure will become a landmark for the city and the country, it will have bioclimatic, acoustic, luminous design and with a double skin (external facade), which will work for the comfort and well-being of the workforce, as well as sustainability of the building during its time of operation.
Finally, Minister Velásquez said that the installation of the first stone of the project is a fundamental message to the inhabitants for the construction of the country's future on solid foundations. “We are going to move forward firmly in this construction process. Fortaleza is a symbol that will be a reality by 2026, a process of building a country, in which all officials will be host with dignity, in the same way this country in which we are committed to its construction will house all its inhabitants to ensure them a dignified life.” the Minister said.
Source: Defense Sector Communications Office - Ministry of National Defense
