[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters (Jeju) Reporter Park Chang-won] The rooftop occupation protest demanding payment for the construction costs of Jeju Dream Tower has entered its fourth day, deepening the distress of Lotte Tour Development, the operator of Dream Tower.
According to Lotte Tour Development on the 5th, the company has already completed payments to the developer, China Greenland Group, and the contractor, China State Construction Engineering Corporation.
However, due to delayed settlement of construction payments between the contractor and subcontractors, the occupation protest has caused dual hardships including business losses and damage to the company’s image.
Lotte Tour Development explained that they are continuing negotiations with the contractor and striving to ensure prompt payment.
They also requested the subcontractors participating in the occupation protest to submit supporting documents necessary for quick settlement.
Nevertheless, as the submission of documents was delayed, Lotte Tour Development pointed out in a press release the previous day that the companies participating in the Dream Tower subcontractors’ council are firms with annual construction evaluation amounts ranging from hundreds of billions to trillions of won in the specialized construction sector, yet they are conducting the occupation protest without submitting supporting documents.
In December last year, Lotte Tour Development selected a Construction Management company (CM company) as a third-party verification institution to accurately calculate the construction costs.
Since then, they have extended the deadline four times while continuously requesting supporting documents from the construction subcontractors.
Lotte Tour Development expects that as early as the 15th, once the CM company releases the construction cost settlement report, they will begin the final calculation of construction costs between the contractor, China State Construction, and the subcontractors.
However, they defined the current 38th-floor occupation protest by subcontractors as a clear illegal occupation protest, involving entry into the building through false work plans and lacking legal grounds for lien claims, and demanded its withdrawal.
A Lotte Tour Development official stated, “As a local company of Jeju Province, rather than requesting forced eviction and immediate legal action, we will do our best to mediate negotiations between the protesting companies and the contractor.”
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