Pearl Horizon property owners have declared that their demands were unable to reach Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to Macau last week, with neither the Office of the Chief Executive nor the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR giving any response to their many petitions and protests.
The Chairman of the Pearl Horizon Condominium Owners United Association, Kou Meng Pok, expressed that the indifference of the government to resolving the case will not be able to reach the expectations of Premier Li’s optimistic outlook for Macau.
“If the Pearl Horizon case continues to be unresolved, I believe it will be hard for Macau to become better,” said Mr. Kou yesterday during the press conference. “In terms of the investment market, investors are losing confidence over the policy in Macau.”
To heal, not to cure
During the press conference, the chairman of the Association criticised the arrangement of Premier Li’s inspection of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, saying he had to use binoculars to inspect the bridge from a faraway place, instead of the nearby location where the Pearl Horizon properties are situated. The arrangement of the location for inspection, from the perspective of Mr. Kou, was to avoid the protest staged by the buyers during Premier Li’s visit.
“Our case is like a person’s health,” Mr. Kou said. “If the health of a person is not good enough, he will be prone to sickness, in spite of supplementing with tonic.”
The appeals
The chairman of the Association urges the government, as the leading party, to organise a meeting between the government, buyers and the developer – Polytex Corporation Ltd. – as soon as possible. He also pressed in the press conference that the government supervise the financial activities of Polytex in order to prevent the illegal transfer of owners’ funds and assets.
In addition, Mr. Kou emphasised that many affected buyers are affected by adverse conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, domestic and social violence, and work problems, while some have passed away because of excessive sadness.
Meanwhile, the vice chairman of the Association expressed buyers’ concerns about the government’s policy of compensating affected buyers if Polytex loses its [trial] hearing, complaining that the government is unclear about the terms of compensation.
Mr Kou also said that the best way to resolve the problem is to finish the construction of the Pearl Horizon project, indicating that many buyers had re-mortgaged their old property to buy a new one.
Earlier this year, the Court of Second Instance rejected a request filed by Polytex Corporation Ltd. to overturn the government’s decision to reclaim the plot on which Pearl Horizon was to be built. Most buyers are still paying instalments on the mortgage of their Pearl Horizon property, according to Mr. Kou.
