Africa-Press – Cape verde. Jorge Soares is a stevedore at the port of Praia and every day he monitored the arrival of boats to unload from his home window, until they blocked his view with the largest building on the waterfront, a now abandoned casino-hotel project.
REPORT: Cape Verdeans want solution for Macau Legend’s unfinished hotel-casino
“ From here, I can’t see anything anymore” , he complains, on the hillside of the Brasil neighborhood, as he points out the window of his house at the building in front, equivalent to eight floors high and which, by now, should already be a hotel and casino – a project that will not move forward after all, the promoting company Macau Legend Development announced this month.
“ It is a wall like others that have been built ”, between the capital and the sea, says Job Amado, president of the Order of Architects of Cape Verde: “ This is the biggest wall of all ”, it is unfinished and “ from the point of view architectural is a true aberration ”, with large glass windows on the facades exposed to the sun, he exemplifies.
Now, Job Amado defends the demolition of the giant building (compared to the surrounding properties), after the reversion to the State, already announced by the Prime Minister, has been completed.
Asked about the costs that demolition could entail, he maintains that the worst cost is that of leaving a serious mistake for the urban future of the capital’s coastal area.
A good example of what could have been done is in the pre-project of the Casino Park Hotel in Madeira, designed by Óscar Niemeyer: Job Amado shows on the Internet a sketch in which the famous Brazilian architect chooses the alignment perpendicular to the coast.
In Praia, all signs already pointed to the abandonment of the Djeu project (islet, in Creole), as it is known in the Cape Verdean capital.
For around two years now, there have only been guards at the gates of what was to be a large tourist complex, in an area of around 160 thousand square meters, which includes the islet of Santa Maria, partially gutted, and an asphalted bridge measuring a few meters long that connects it to the city.
Next to the building, a crane remains erected in the middle of the land with unfinished earthworks, fenced off by ramparts that rise over the pedestrian promenade of the seafront from where Gamboa beach could previously be seen.
Januário Nascimento calls it a “ big monster ” against which the Association for the Defense of the Environment and Development (ADAD), which he heads, has always rebelled against, as have international partners who, informally, told him that, “in this project, Cape Verde it went badly .”
The errors highlighted ranged from the excessive height for a building in that area, to its orientation, parallel to the sea (like a wall) and the lack of respect for the maritime flora, he describes.
Now, he recommends that there be no “ hasty decisions ” and defends the creation of a commission that studies the matter in depth before decisions are made – whether demolition or otherwise –, a group that also analyzes the social impact of the possible creation of a gaming zone , with casino.
This commission must be truly comprehensive, with technicians, academics and civil society, in addition to government and local authorities, he emphasizes.
At the door of the building, any attempt to enter the premises or obtain information comes up against the guards, who refer them to those responsible for the project.
Lusa tried to contact those responsible to obtain details beyond those that Macau Legend Development has already announced, but without success.
In the Brasil neighborhood, in front of which the building grew, opinions are divided: Jorge thinks that demolishing it “ would be sad ” and defends its use, for example, to provide housing for those living in difficulties.
“ Gamboa beach and the islet are ours ”, says Helena Tavares, another resident of the Brasil neighborhood, who would like to have access to the area again, whatever the final destination of the project.
“ To knock it down is a waste ”, says neighbor Henrique Centeio, certain that “ it shouldn’t be so high, so as not to cut off the view of the islet, and then perhaps it would come to an end ”.
At the top of one of the ramps to Achada de Santo António, one of Praia’s hills, there is a restaurant where meals are served on a wide balcony in front of which the Djeu building stands.
It’s like having “ an elephant ” in the room, says Magda Marta, manager of the O Poeta restaurant, who regrets having lost the view of illuminated ships in the port.
“ I don’t know what the elephant’s fate will be, but I hope it goes to the jungle” , he says, hoping that, at the very least, it will be put to use quickly.
“ I think that anything” will be an improvement, because, now, “ it’s dull, there’s no shine. It’s like a lump in your shoe ”.
In 2015, Macanese businessman David Chow signed an agreement with the Cape Verdean Government to build the project and the first stone was laid in February 2016.
The project involved the largest tourist development in Cape Verde at the time, with a planned global investment of 250 million euros – around 15% of Cape Verde’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In an interview with Hong Kong television TVB, broadcast last week (October 4), the president and executive director of Macau Legend Development, Li Chu Kwan, announced that the group intends to close projects in Cape Verde and Cambodia by 2025.
The following day, questioned by Lusa, the Cape Verdean Prime Minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, announced that the Government will reverse the concession.
” First we have to reverse the concession. There were, for some time now, indications of problems on the investor’s side ” and now all the ” legal support” will be put forward to reverse the concession ” and then see what fate to give to this investment, which is not it can stay as it is “, he concluded. The Week with Lusa
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