A subsidiary of China’s largest construction group has suspended work on one of the nation’s tallest skyscrapers after the developer became the latest in a string of companies to default on a payment, reported the Financial Times.
The default highlights the growing challenges faced by China’s construction groups as the slowing economy trims credit supply, putting the once runaway mega-tower building boom under stress.
In an October 30 letter
seen by the FT, China Construction Third Engineering Bureau said it would halt
construction on a 475m-high skyscraper in the central city of Wuhan. It said
Greenland Group, one of the nation’s largest property companies, had failed to
make “a significant” project payment.
Other cash-strapped property developers have also been struggling to keep their
tall-building projects afloat. FT research reveals that construction of more
than a dozen super tall skyscrapers, defined as buildings higher than 300m, has
been postponed or is behind schedule.