HDC ordered to pay USD 22.8 million to Malaysian contractor WZR
WZR Property was awarded the project on 1st February 2016 and an agreement was signed a month later
A 3-D model of the project
WZR Property Sdn Bhd group has won the arbitration case filed against the Maldivian government, at the Asian International Arbitration Court.
According to Malaysian news outlets, the company has won an award for USD 22.8 million.
According to WZR Property, they along with six other international companies were invited to submit proposals to develop a 25-storey office complex by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury. WZR Property won the nearly USD 123 million project and was awarded the contract on 1st February 2016, and an agreement was signed between both parties a month later.
A novation agreement was signed between WZR Property and the state-run Housing Development Corporation (HDC) on 7th March 2017.
However, the company said that it did not receive “a single [amount] of the payment” despite completing 20 percent of the total work and 60 per cent of the pilings for the structure.
Noting that the agreement was signed during the previous administration of now jailed former President Abdulla Yameen, WZR Property said that the current one was “kind of reluctant to continue” with the project.
Accusing the incumbent administration of failing to cooperate, WZR accused the government of working to buy time and filed a case at the international arbitration court in September 2019. It is to have issued an invoice for payment for progress on the construction work it had done according to a contract, in May 2018.
According to Malay Mail, the Asian International Arbitration Court on Sunday ruled on Sunday that WZR was entitled to seek payment of the sums due to the company under the May 2018 invoice.
HDC has been ordered to pay USD 22,823,432.68 to WZR within seven days of the court decision, with an interest rate of 6.5 percent per year.
HDC was ordered to pay legal costs of WZR Property, as well as the Asian International Arbitration Court’s administration fee.
Following the court's decision, the Malay Mail said that WZR "will now be asking Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry for assistance to ensure the money is paid".
