Hundreds take to the streets, protest Pearl Horizon uncertainty

Hundreds of Pearl Horizon buyers once again took to the streets on Saturday to protest the lack of progress currently being made on the waterfront property project in Areia Preta. Property buyers are
concerned about the progress of the developments and about the uncertainty surrounding their investments amid the looming land-use expiry deadline.
The 25-year land-use term of the high-end Pearl Horizon project is set to expire in December and there is some uncertainty over whether the agreement will be extended. Polytex Corporation, the firm responsible for the Pearl Horizon project, said last month that construction could be halted if the government fails to extend the land-use rights. The property is not expected to be completed until the end of 2018.
However, Polytex’s statement did not sit well with buyers, with hundreds of them staging repeated protests and urging the government to bring the case to a swift resolution. On Saturday, up to 1,000 protestors gathered to renew calls for the end of the standstill.
“We have nowhere else to live [besides Pearl Horizon], and we are still paying our mortgage. Today we brought our kids with us, too,” one protestor told TDM.
Another said, “We are not super rich people; we have a mortgage to pay. If we buy an apartment now and it’s delivered in 15 years, we will be old. Banks in Macau will only consider mortgages until you’re 65 years old.”
The protesters marched to both the headquarters of both the developers’ and the government in an attempt to secure a meeting with representatives behind the project.
Lau Veng Seng, the organizer of the demonstration, said, “I don’t want to know what methods they plan to use to fix this. I only want a satisfactory ending.”
Pearl Horizon’s developers have indicated that they expect to secure the renewal of land-use rights – a stance that broadcaster TDM termed “optimistic.” However, Raimundo do Rosário, the Secretary for Transport and Public Works, hinted at another outcome earlier this month.
Rosário said that extensions are unlikely to be granted to developers who fail to complete their projects during the term of their land-use agreement, as in the case of Polytex. He explained that this policy is based on the new Land Law. Meanwhile, the Secretary for Economy and Finance and the Secretary for Administration and Justice have both declared their commitment to following the case.
The government has vowed to safeguard the interests of buyers as determined by the law, despite pointing out that transactions made with Polytex are of a private nature.