The mayor of Rocha, Alejo Umpiérrez (National Party) announced this Monday that the much-announced project of the 5-star hotel, which was going to be erected in his department, will not be carried out because the companies that participated did not prequalify.
The three projects that were presented did not pass the preliminary selection stages, said Umpiérrez in conversation with Underlinedand the last of them was asked for an evaluation and an economic feasibility study.
The governor of the eastern department met with the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio, and with the President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou, in which they would have evaluated the issue of the failed hotel. According to the aforementioned media, the proposal “does not qualify, therefore it makes no sense to open a call from the hotel.”
For the nationalist, “it is better that it be so so as not to repeat a story that happened in the past that, not having examined the economic viability or the sustainability of the projects, it was awarded to a company and that company never built because In reality, it was about an adventurer who was trying to get some permission or some investment or capital abroad”.
He added that his administration will continue to encourage this type of project, despite the fact that the hotel in question will not exist.
It was taken for granted
Although it was just a project, the Lacalle Pou government had announced it almost as a fact. On the website of the Presidency of the Republic, there is a note titled: “Uruguay will have a five-star hotel with a casino on the ocean coast of Rocha.”
At that time, Germán Cardoso was Minister of Tourism, who later fell into disgrace and ended up separated from his position for the controversial case of the Estonian company Kirma Services.
“It is a long-awaited work for many years,” said Cardoso at a press conference packed with journalists and militants, and with the presence of Lacalle Pou, held in mid-September at the Rocha Athletic Club.
He said that time that the calendar for the start-up and execution of the hotel enterprise begins on September 23, with the opening of the international call for investors, and that the idea is that as many interested parties as possible present themselves.
He stressed that, when the pandemic gives way to normality, “Uruguay, due to the good prestige it has acquired in the region and the world, will be called upon to receive a strong boost and development from the point of view of tourism and investments linked to tourism.” sector”.
