HONG KONG -- Two new 57-story apartment buildings under construction atop a train station are to be demolished in Hong Kong after real estate company New World Development found serious construction defects.
New World, one of the city's biggest developers, said the two towers would be rebuilt but a spokesperson said five other towers where construction started earlier have passed construction quality and structural safety requirements.
The city Building Department said that tests found substandard concrete was used in supporting columns and load-bearing walls in the two towers and that it was investigating what happened.
Sales at the suburban project, Pavilia Farm, helped revive Hong Kong's property market from the depths of the coronavirus-induced slump last year.
The first batch of Pavilia Farm units attracted a higher rate of registrations of interest from buyers than any development since Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule in 1997, with the company eventually pocketing 23.8 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.06 billion) from the sale of 2,103 apartments in phases I and II of the project.
The demolition and the rebuilding of the two towers in phase III will delay the company's handover of apartments in those buildings to buyers, originally scheduled to take place by the end of 2023, by about nine months. The affected 846 buyers will be given the option of canceling their purchases.
The units above the Tai Wai train station sold at prices ranging from HK$7.9 million to HK$25 million. For a HK$15 million unit, a buyer waiting for completion will get up to HK$1.15 million in compensation and subsidies while one canceling will get HK$310,000.
"The company would like to apologize to those affected by the handover delay," New World said.
MTR Corp., the city-owned railway operator acting as co-developer of the project, said it is "highly concerned" about the problems and has demanded a full investigation.
"The corporation also requested the developer to ascertain the quality of the other towers in the development," MTR said.
New World did not respond to queries on whether it is seeking compensation from contractor Hip Seng Construction, but said it had demanded the company investigate whether there had been negligence or supervisory failures. New World said that the involved project supervisors had been replaced.