The Dominican Republic’s Senate will not approve the contract to build the Canoa Hot Springs project in Barahona, said the members of that chamber Charlie Mariotti and Noe Sterling Vasquez.

Both Dominican lawmakers complained that the contract negotiations jeopardized the owners of the land the project would be built on, and who were paid half a million dollars for 99 years.

Vasquez said he opposes the contract, noting that as Barahona’s representative he’s the most interested in the development of tourism projects. He said Tourism minister Felix Jimenez didn’t provide enough information and shouldn’t accuse Congress of discarding the initiative.

Mariotti said he calculated that the land’s monthly rent is less than what one apartment would cost to rent.

On Tuesday Jimenez complained that an investment of RD$25 billion would be lost if the Senate doesn’t approve the project, which entails an investment of $500 million on about 20 hectares of Agrarian Reform lands.