Monday, 14/07/2008 18:26

Firm balks at suspension of parking project

Dong Duong Co. Ltd., which won the rights to build and operate an underground parking lot in Lam Son Square in District 1, has been stunned by the news that the HCM City People’s Committee has decided to suspend the project for safety reasons.

The committee, in a statement last weekend, asked the company to stop work on the project for "failing to ensure the safety of the nearby Opera House and the proposed metro system."

Chairman of the committee, Le Hoang Quan, said studies would be done for converting all proposed underground parking lots into high-rise ones and the committee would consider their results.

Dong Duong promptly complained last Friday to city authorities, saying it had been pursuing the project for the last four years at a cost of VND30 billion (US$1.88 million).

Nguyen Thi Bao Quynh, its deputy general director, said the committee’s sudden decision was "astounding", pointing out it was the committee that had called for investment at the site and issued the licence last March.

Her company was all set to break ground for the project later this month, she said.

The reasons the committee had given for the suspension were "unconvincing", she said.

Dismissing the supposed threat to the Opera House, she said Japanese design contractor Nikken Seikkei had furnished project design and construction plans to city officials that ensure "the project will not affect nearby structures."

As for its effect on the proposed metro system, the transport, zoning and architecture, and construction departments had approved of the project design before issuing the licence, she said.

Since issuing the licence the People’s Committee and other agencies had neither held discussions with nor sent notices to her company about the "problems", she said.

Investor’s loss

Since July 2004, when Dong Duong Co. applied to invest in the parking lot project, the company estimates it has spent around VND30 billion on preliminary work.

These include hiring geological consulting and exploring firms and clearing electrical and lighting systems, the company said.

But these costs do not include the payments made to several partners in the past four years, Quynh said.

"The abrupt suspension of the project has affected our prestige," she said. "Who will compensate our losses?"

Truong Van Lam, head of the city People’s Committee office, said in a press briefing last Friday that the committee is partially responsible for the project’s suspension and it would work out the losses to award the investor another project in lieu of this one.

Dong Duong Co. Ltd was licensed to build a 1,340sq.m, 12-storey, multi-purpose parking lot at a depth of 36.5m beneath Lam Son Square. It was to have seven floors for parking and four floors for shops, restaurants, and other retail services.

VNN

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