Big China-backed London development on brink of collapse

[LONDON] A £1.7 billion (S$3.1 billion) regeneration project in east London that's been sitting undeveloped for years is on the brink of collapse unless its Chinese developers can guarantee it will be completed, the Sunday Times reported.

In 2013, then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson awarded a contract to Beijing-based Advanced Business Parks (ABP) to turn the 35-acre site into offices, shops and homes. But ABP only secured a handful of tenants and halted construction more than 2 years ago.

In 2019, Xu Weiping, chairman of ABP, said he was reviewing the future of the Royal Docks project because uncertainty over Brexit was slowing sales.

Now, the delays have prompted the Greater London Authority to set a March deadline for final termination of the project. That means that ABP has lost control of the undeveloped land and its guarantor Dauphin Holdings Group must confirm in the coming weeks if it can complete the redevelopment.

To date, no clarification has been given, the Times reported, citing people familiar with the subject that it didn't identify. BLOOMBERG