22 million euros for the plots with the urban development license or 50 million with the hotel built. This is the sales proposal that Angel Bustos is trying to place in the tourist market for the Hotel Flor de Sal & Spa, according to La Voz de Ibiza.
In the sale proposal, the controversial businessman assures that the project has a building permit. However, the Consell de Formentera has not clarified whether the project has an enabling title or whether there is a draft license submitted by the developer in the pipeline. According to La Voz de Ibiza, there is no trace of the granting of the enabling title to the company Hotel Flor de Sal & Spa in the government meetings since the Study of Detail of the Unit of Action of es Pujols EPJ-06 was approved in June 2022.
Hotel project frozen
In addition, the hotel project is frozen under the moratorium on tourist places included in the General Tourism Law and that the Government will maintain until the councils decide what to do with the bags of places and their respective ceilings of beds. As La Voz de Ibiza has been reporting alone, the president of the Consell de Formentera, Llorenç Córdoba, referred to this project as “quite suspicious changes of urbanistic figures that should be investigated”. However, this operation is not part of the package of cases brought to the attention of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and being investigated by the UCO. Although Bustos manages the tourist establishments Apartamentos Castaví and the tourist complex of apartments and villas Paraíso de los Pinos, from the attempt to place on the market the two plots purchased on September 18, 2023 according to the registry information in possession of La Voz de Ibiza, it can be deduced that it is not in the businessman’s plans to build and exploit the new luxury establishment projected in es Pujols. Both companies were awarded two beach bars in the contest under suspicion. The project of a luxury hotel located on two plots of land in two buildings connected by walkways has a maximum capacity of 174 tourist places. The design of the establishment has been favored by an increase in the area of occupation of the plot contemplated in the Subsidiary Rules of Formentera. Thus, the Detailed Study was approved by the previous government of Formentera with a 32.5% occupation of the plots as opposed to the 20% established in the urban planning file, which is 60% more. Obviously, this increase in the occupation of the plot is detrimental to the planned private free space. The developers’ justification for this increase, which was accepted by the Consell de Formentera, is “to provide the rooms with large terraces, without increasing the maximum authorized use”. Experts consulted by La Voz de Ibiza have described the increase as a “legal ruse”, a change that increases the value of the project as it is a way to achieve more buildability through the terraces.
The surreal protection of the pine forest of es Pujols
The most curious aspect of the Study of Detail approved under the presidency of the socialist Ana Juan is the surrealistic justification for the change of location and the increase in the surface area of the four projected buildings as opposed to the two contemplated in the Subsidiary Standards.
Despite the fact that the larger the built surface the less trees and that the change means having to cut down 56 trees to 124, the report of the Study of Detail states that “one of the objectives is to minimize the felling of trees” by locating the four buildings in areas of lower density or smaller trees. The reality is that the photographs accompanying the study of detail, the aerial photographs consulted by La Voz de Ibiza and the testimonies of those familiar with the state of the pine forest do not allow us to conclude that the new location with the consequent increase in surface area means a protection of the trees. Quite the contrary.
