Hoti Hotéis has been waiting for several years for the outcome of investment processes in two hotel projects, one in Lisbon and the other in Monte Gordo, blocked by legal disputes and administrative upheavals.
Questioned by Lusa about results and the development of the investment and expansion plan, group administrator Ricardo Gonçalves said that it “is being carried out as planned”, namely with the completion of the renovation of the Tryp Lisboa Caparica Mar hotel, part of the Madeira Golden Residence hotel and the start of renovation works at the Melia Ria hotel.
Also in the second half of the year, the group opened the new Melia São João da Madeira hotel to the public, “a reference unit that resulted from an application process for the Revive Program promoted by Turismo de Portugal” and has the hotels in Viana do Castelo, Porto, Aveiro and Luanda (Angola) “in an advanced stage of licensing and/or negotiation with construction companies”.
In January, the group estimated investments of around 300 million euros until 2028, of which 250 million in hotels and the remainder for entry into the residential segment.
Faced with the evolution of the two processes that have been at an impasse for years in Monte Gordo, in the Algarve, and in Largo do Rato, in Lisbon, the person responsible explained that “the situation is different”.
In Lisbon, the project for a hotel in Largo do Rato has “the construction license paid and collected, the works have started and the Public Ministry took action against the Lisbon municipality in 2018 alleging an error in the approval process”remember.
Since then, the works have been suspended by order of the Lisbon Administrative Court, with Ricardo Gonçalves recalling that “it has been seven years of waiting, without a trial yet taking place”.
In the Algarve, the impasse is in the project for the Hotel Melia Algarve, to be built on the seafront at Monte Gordo beach.
The project began when the Hoti Group won in 2016 an international public tender promoted by the Municipal Council of Vila Real de Santo António for the construction of the hotel unit, with the land sale process including, according to the company, “favorable opinions from all competent entities, including the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF) and the Algarve Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDR-Algarve)”. The deed was formalized at the end of that year.
“At the beginning of 2017, APA withdraws its positive opinion and notifies the local authority that the project cannot be licensed, with a lawsuit being filed by the municipality of Vila Real de Santo António against APA at the Loulé Administrative Court, and we, as the counterparty, have the money tied up and a credibility problem to resolve with our partner, Melia Hotels International”says the administrator.
According to Ricardo Gonçalves, the Group has already proposed to the municipality several options to overcome the problem, namely the possibility of presenting other locations within the municipality with conditions for the construction of a hotel with similar characteristics.
“After eight years, and two municipal mandates, we still have no prospect of materializing the investment. Simply unspeakable, lack of accountability from the Portuguese Environment Agency and the municipality, which continue to act as if nothing had happened”regrets.
Lusa sent questions to the local authorities of Lisbon and Monte Gordo, as well as to the administrative courts of the capital and Loulé asking, in particular, whether they had considered alternatives, the reasons for the slowness and whether there had been progress recently, and is now awaiting answers.