Córdoba Governor Martín Llaryora oversaw the start of work on a 60-room hotel and convention center financed through the province’s lottery authority.
The development will be built in phases, beginning with 20 rooms, and includes 10.3 kilometers of paved access roads, a water treatment facility, sewage infrastructure and a natural gas connection. Authorities estimate the complex will accommodate up to 500 people and state that all required environmental permits have been secured.
Opposition groups dispute that claim. The project site falls within the Reserva Arqueológica Provincial Quilpo, a protected zone under provincial law. A preliminary CONICET (Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council) report cited in the environmental impact study flagged a moderate-to-high probability of buried archaeological remains in the area.
Environmental advocates and representatives of the Tulián indigenous community have challenged the environmental assessment in court, arguing it contains inconsistencies and warns of potential irreversible damage. A court-ordered conciliation hearing on February 12 ended without agreement, and a judicial injunction temporarily halted construction before work resumed.
The project has also drawn scrutiny over water usage. Planned infrastructure includes two boreholes approximately 80 meters deep in the San Marcos riverbed, with extraction capacity of around 10,000 liters per hour, a figure critics say represents a significant share of the nearby town’s supply.
Provincial lawmaker Fernando Luna has questioned the prioritization of an estimated ARS 40bn ($28.4m) project while parts of Cruz del Eje reportedly rely on water trucks.
Although the original environmental filings referenced a gaming room, later official communications removed explicit mention of casino facilities. Opponents argue that the involvement of the provincial lottery authority makes the potential gaming component difficult to independently verify.
Melisa Rodríguez Oviedo, Director of the Archaeology Team, stated: “The hotel and the Convention Center will primarily leverage their natural and cultural surroundings as key strengths. The works have been designed to advance development while avoiding significant impacts on the area’s cultural and natural processes.”
The budget ranks among the largest recent tourism investments backed by a provincial lottery in Argentina
