Uruguay’s President Yamandú Orsi has met again with Maldonado Mayor Miguel Abella and Italian businessman Giuseppe Cipriani, developer of the Cipriani Ocean Resort Club Residences & Casino, at the Torre Ejecutiva.
The meetings took place days after construction resumed at the long-delayed hotel and casino project in Punta del Este.
The site, built on the grounds of the former Hotel Casino San Rafael, had been paralyzed by a contractual dispute between Grupo Cipriani and Criba SA, the lead construction contractor.
The dispute left more than 600 workers on unemployment benefits. Grupo Cipriani confirmed the previous Friday that work would resume immediately, with approximately 650 workers returning to the project.
Abella, Mayor of Maldonado, said: "The project is, more or less, getting back on track." He also added that investment in the development already exceeds $248m, surpassing the threshold established in the original bidding process for the site.
The dispute between Grupo Cipriani and Criba centered on alleged noncompliance with contractual construction deadlines. Criba maintained it had deployed extraordinary operational capacity to sustain the project, including three work shifts and more than 650 simultaneous workers during peak periods, and expressed willingness to resolve the disagreement through dialogue.
The labor dispute was resolved after Grupo Cipriani and the Sindicato Único Nacional de la Construcción (Sunca), the construction workers' union, signed a preliminary agreement guaranteeing the reincorporation of all workers linked to the project, regardless of whether Criba remains the lead contractor.
Orsi's meeting with Cipriani came the same day he received Argentinian businessman Gianfranco Macri, brother of Argentina’s former President Mauricio Macri, who presented a separate $42m golf and wellness project planned for the Manantiales area of Maldonado.
Abella said investment in the project already exceeds $248m, surpassing the threshold set in Maldonado's original tender for the site
