The constructions carried out by the hotel complex in Bariloche Villa Huinidwhich this Monday was affected by a avalanche in which 3 people diedpresented some irregularitiesconfirmed this Thursday Marcos Barberis, chief of staff of Bariloche.
The complex consists of two hotels, the Bustillo and the Pionero, some cabins and a large SPA. In 2013, with the intention to expandthe company began a project to add a 935-square-meter Multipurpose Room (SUM) that only began construction during the pandemic.
“In October 2021, the professional in charge submitted a process to renounce the work and at that time the municipality carries out an inspection and it is found that there is a larger platformthat there are some issues that were not approved in the original project”, said Barberis in radio six.
“They went from a SUM of 935 meters to a complex of more than 3000 meters, with an earth movement greater than authorized, with a larger slab. From a SUM of 900 meters to a battery of apartments”, denounced the official.
After verifying this irregularity, the file was submitted to the Misdemeanor Court and the company was informed that the work was paralyzed and what should present a project from scratch to get a new license to build.
As confirmed by Barberis, the order to stop the work was issued by the Private Works area on October 25, 2021. Although inspectors were sent in January and February to check that the company was complying, since then there has been no record of new inspections.
In that sense, Barberis implied that the construction went ahead despite the decision of the municipality, since during the radio interview he said that “at the time of stoppage (the work) it was in a state and today it has a certain degree of progress that the Justice will define it, but it has a certain degree of progress ”.
Another of the irregularities that was found following the avalanche is that the work had a retaining wall with gabions was not in the original project. This data is central for the investigation that seeks to find the causes of the avalanche, since it was that wall that gave way and ended up inside the hotel rooms.
“Tragic Warning”
As reported by the Undersecretary of Civil Protection, following the 36 hours of intense rainfall that were recorded this weekend in Bariloche there was no other avalanche or significant damage to other properties in the area.
In that sense, the Standing Tree Civil Association published a statement in which he recalled that on the property where the avalanche occurred “in 2011 there was a massive felling of 423 cypresses to build the second hotel (the Pioneros) in the All Flags SA firm complex”.
This Monday’s phenomenon, said the environmental NGO, was a “tragic notice” of a situation that had been noted in various technical studies.
“The cause of this misfortune, which should not have happened, was the greed, laziness, malpractice, it was many things, not the rain. Each approval, each exception, each violation of the regulations, puts not only the environment at risk, but also those who are within it,” the association concluded.
