CHINA Railway First Group (CRFG), the contractor for the multimillion dollar FHL Tower in the heart of Suva City, had billed Fijian Holdings Ltd (FHL) a total of $40million or almost 60 percent of initial cost agreed as variation claims when COVID-19 struck and plagued its completion.
This was revealed by FHL chief executive officer Jaoji Koroi at the company’s annual general meeting in Lami yesterday in response to questions from a shareholder on rumours that the building was now costing FHL double the initial cost agreement.
Speaking in the iTaukei language, Mr Koroi said the initial agreement was for $62million but at the height of COVID-19 when construction contractors all over the world had walked off construction sites, the board had decided to keep China Railway going.
He said they in turn put forward their variation claim for $40million but this was pushed back by FHL whose due process to validate China Railway’s variation claims resulted in FHL deciding to only pay out $12.5m.
He said this took the total cost agreed to by the FHL board to $74m that had been approved to pay China Railway.
“So, whoever is saying the contract value is now double is wrong,” he said.
Mr Koroi said FHL has received Letters of Intent from tenants for 85 percent of the building, which was described as FHL’s “single largest investment” when it began construction six years ago.
