In an interview with the Colombian financial newspaper, Portafolio, Cristián Lehuedé, Executive Director at Crystal Lagoons® highlights the multinational’s latest signings in the country despite the current global crisis.
The publication emphasizes that due to the covid-19 pandemic, tourism became one of the first sectors to close and may be one of the last to reopen. However, some projects scheduled to be developed this year, as well as new tourism investments, remain on schedule.
“Fortunately, our projects are long-term developments. Building a lagoon takes a few years even before the project begins, as a plot of land has to be identified, and financed. However, at the moment, when everyone is staying at home, ongoing negotiations concerning these lagoons have evolved positively,” explains Cristián Lehuedé, executive director of Crystal Lagoons.
The multinational water innovation company has developed a concept patented in more than 190 countries around the world. These lagoons are characterized by their crystalline water and size, which typically span over more than 2.5 acres, and use specialized technology making them more economical than a swimming pool of the same dimensions.
“A lagoon costs approximately US$ 1.1 million per hectare, however the lagoons are part of large-scale real estate projects, with apartments, houses, or hotels surrounding them, and increase the value of these properties. An entrance ticket to these lagoons is approximately US$ 10 in Latin American countries,” says Lehuedé.
Despite the current restrictions caused by the coronavirus, which has meant operations have been suspended in certain countries, as time has passed, the sector has slowly restarted. In Colombia, two projects are progressing near Cartagena that were signed last year.
“One has a public component and the other is more of a private project,” said the executive, referring to the firm’s Public Access Lagoons™, also known as PAL™, and real estate developments.
Sustainable technology
For Crystal Lagoons, a key element of the firm is its state-of-the-art technology that maintains the water crystalline sustainably. Lehuedé explains that this unique technology uses up to 100 times less chemicals than conventional swimming pool or drinking water treatment technologies and consume only 2% of the energy needed by conventional swimming pool filtration systems.