Pac On Land Appeal denied by court

The Court of Second Instance ruled against an appeal lodged by property developer Interbloc-Materiais de Construção (Macau), S.A.R.L. regarding the declaration of expiration of a land plot concession.
The plot is located in Pac On reclamation Zone G in Taipa, with the Chief Executive (CE) having declared the expiration of the land concession last June.
The Second Court ruled that the land concession expiration was due to the contract having expired, instead of the claim by the developer that the decision was punitive.
The plot was undeveloped at the time of the concession’s expiration, with the developer claiming in the appeal that it had not been utilised due to an unstable economic environment, citing the Asian financial crisis in 1997, SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) in 2003 and social instabilities during the term of the Portuguese government.
However, the Court stated that there were terms in the contract obliging the developer to inform the administration when issues arose that were beyond their control, and the appellant had failed to do so.
Meanwhile, the Court pointed out that the original concession had expired in December 1995, before the financial crisis in 1997, ruling the reasoning unsubstantial.
The appellant, on the other hand, also accused the administration of having double standards, for accepting the reasons made in other similar cases, but rejecting the arguments made by the appellant of the case in question.
In response, the Court explained that similar cases still have time before the expiration of their 25-year concessions, while the case in question had already seen its concession expire.