Hundreds of protesters march on home developer’s HQ

Hundreds of Pearl Horizon home buyers took to the streets on Saturday afternoon, gathering outside Polytec Group’s headquarters to protest the lack of construction work on the Areia Preta project.  They demanded to meet the president of the company, chanting, “come out to meet us.” No Polytec representatives emerged.
This is not the first time that the buyers have made this complaint. Last month, hundreds marched to the company’s headquarters to demand a meeting with project representatives.
Angered at the countless hurdles they have encountered, the protesters are now requesting a meeting with the developer’s president and a follow-­up solution to the ongoing problem.
“We’ve asked the government what would happen if we delayed paying the stamp tax. They said we can’t. We will be fined if we don’t [pay],” one homebuyer told TDM.  She added that she had called Polytec the previous night and demanded to know why the company appeared to be shifting responsibility to the government.
Polytec Group has long since pledged to accelerate its construction work, and aims to complete and hand the homes over to buyers in 2018. However, under the terms of the land concession, the project must be completed on or before Dec. 25 this year.
The developer says that it has asked the government for an extension until 2020, and that it expects to secure the renewal of land-use rights. However, Raimundo do Rosário, the Secretary for Transport Works, said in October that extensions are unlikely to be granted to developers who fail to complete their project within the stipulated period.
The authority has pledged to make a decision by Dec. 10.