Speaking to reporters yesterday, Wednesday 6 May 2015, Maribel Villalona, supervisor of the Colonial City renovation program and spokeswoman for the technical commission that is evaluating the causes of the structural collapse of the 16th Century Hotel Frances on Saturday, 2 May 2015, said that in the year that the restoration process has been underway, no cracks were found in buildings in the Santo Domingo’s historic quarter, as reported in Listin Diario.
Villalona was speaking at a press conference where the Ministry of Tourism and the Accor hotel chain announced the reconstruction of the Hotel Frances to be funded by the Dominican government.
Villalona said that the renovation program has been going on for a year and a half with more than 2,000 linear meters undergoing refurbishment and without any notification of cracks in buildings.
She added that the technical commission has held its first working meeting to establish the cause of the collapse of part of the 16th century building. She said that as soon as the results of the investigation are clear, they would be made public. The hotel was unoccupied at the time after the management decided to relocate the guests to sister hotels Hostal Nicolas de Ovando and Mercure Comercial due to the excavations that were taking place next to the hotel.
http://acento.com.do/2015/economia/8247045-mitur-y-accor-acuerdan-rehabilitar-el-hotel-frances/