Cuban asks how many thermoelectric plants could be repaired with money allocated for the construction of Hotel K23.

The controversial hotel in the heart of El Vedado has become a symbol of absurdity and daily challenges the logic of the Cuban government's economic management.

Torre K23 en La Habana © CiberCuba
Tower K23 in HavanaPhoto © CiberCuba

The controversial Hotel K23 in Havana, known as Torre K23 and financed by the military conglomerate GAESA, is generating harsh criticism on social media regarding the government's economic management amid the energy crisis.

User Ana Leydis Morales shared an image of the hotel in the Facebook group Photos of Havana. Her post has received a hundred comments, among which stands out the question of a Cuban: "How many thermoelectric plants could have been repaired with the money spent on the construction of that hotel?"

Hotel K23 / Ana Leydis MoralesFacebookPhotos of Havana

While the country suffers from widespread blackouts due to fuel shortages and having a ruined energy system, the luxurious Torre de 23 y K, with over 560 empty rooms, stands as a reminder of what the regime does with the people's money.

The building, 154 meters tall, is a million-dollar project that contrasts with the urgency of repairing the thermoelectric plants that regularly collapse in Cuba.

Image capture, comments on Facebook

The official data is not known, but there is an estimate of the cost of this type of luxury hotels. In this case, it ranges from 226 to 565 million dollars. The analysis should be conducted upward, considering that most of the materials have been imported.

A 300 MW plant, similar to the CTE Antonio Guiteras, costs between 210 and 450 million dollars, which means that with the investment allocated to K23, the government of Cuba could have addressed some issues of the energy crisis in the country.

Illuminated hotel at night / Social media, Maikel Hernández

The Cuban people have been facing daily blackouts for more than three years. People find it hard to understand the decision to prioritize a luxury tower over making improvements to the National Electro-Energy System.

A hotel with 40 floors and more than 500 rooms can have significant energy consumption. Based on an average of 30 MWh per room per year, its continuous demand is estimated to be approximately 1.93 MW.

This calculation covers the typical energy usage for lighting, air conditioning, elevators, and other essential services, without considering possible variations due to energy efficiency or building-specific additional systems.

Hotel K23 April 2024 / CiberCuba

The government authorized the construction of a building that reminds Cubans every day how disconnected the policies of the Revolution are from the citizens' most urgent needs.

While the authorities defend the project as a bet on tourism, many Cubans believe that Cuba does not need more luxury hotels, but rather immediate solutions to its economic, energy, political, and social crisis.

What do you think?

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Gretchen Sánchez

Branded Content Writer at CiberCuba. Doctor in Sciences from the University of Alicante and Bachelor's degree in Sociocultural Studies.


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