China State Construction Engineering Corporation’s Middle East unit is working hard to get the Viceroy Dubai project it is building alongside developer Skai Holding at Jumeirah Village Circle back on track following a fire at the site last year, according to its Middle East chairman. The 60-storey tower project that will house 247 hotel rooms and 254 apartments – most of which will have private pools – was initially scheduled for completion this year, but Yu Tao said that it was now targeting an opening next year. “It’s probably the later part of the year, but we will target by the summertime,” said Mr Yu. “This would be extremely challenging, but still we are trying our best.”It has been held back from advancing vertically at the site until all of the safety tests have been completed but CSCEC Middle East has sought to compensate for this by completing more advanced works in the basement and podium levels. “We have no worry about the quality of the building,” said Mr Yu. “That’s going to be assured – by our own name, by our work, by third party inspectors and by the government.”Elsewhere, CSCEC Middle East and Skai Holdings have already received the building completion certificate for the 20-storey Palm Viceroy hotel at Palm Jumeirah, where residents have begun moving into serviced apartments and the hotel is due to open next month.The pair of five-star resort hotels that are also being built at Palm Jumeirah for developer Arenco are almost structurally complete, said Mr Yu, adding that the project “will be done within one year or so”.This will take the total amount of hotel projects CSCEC Middle East has been building on Palm Jumeirah to five. The contractor is not involved in the construction of Nakheel’s Palm Gateway Towers, despite its joint venture with South Korean contractor Ssangyong receiving a letter of intent from the developer for a Dh1.4 billion, three-tower development on top of its monorail terminus in February last year. The project has since been re-tendered and bids are due back next month. “Unfortunately, we didn’t reach a common understanding in terms of the conditions, the contract duration and the contract price,” Mr Yu said. Nakheel declined to comment on the reasons for the failure to implement the letter of intent.mfahy@thenational.aeFollow The National’s Business section on Twitter
Source : thenational.ae
Read more…China State Construction unit aiming for summer 2018 finish at Viceroy Dubai site hit by fire
