Blue City Company 1 chief executive Richard Russell hit back at recent reports published saying that UK construction company Bovis Lend Lease would sue the Omani development venture for up to US$1.5mn for unpaid services.
Russell admitted, “We are aware of the filing and our papers are with our advisers,” and went on to describe Blue City’s position as ‘very strong’ and ‘clear cut.’
A report in British construction and architecture industry magazine Building said of the writ, “Bovis says in its writ that Fari Akhlaghi, chief executive of Blue City at the time, informed the contractor that it ‘should have no worries or doubts’ about receiving payment.”
The report also added, “Bovis says that it gave the developer, which is now backed by the government of Oman, several opportunities to pay.” Dismissing many aspects of the original report as ‘completely incorrect,’ Russell told TheWeek, “Bovis will be paid for all services rendered under its contract, which it has been already.” He also confirmed that the case will be heard in a British court, although it is ‘undetermined’ as to when the case will actually be heard.
“We paid them a million dollars in advance before they even started the work.” He said his main fear was that the original report was “trying to tie us to the situation in the Emirates, which is completely unfounded”, in reference to a spate of cases of unpaid services in the UAE. The Blue City boss also dismissed suggestions that a case of this nature will affect future development at Blue City.
“We do not see any knock-on effect. Bovis was never contracted as the project manager on the project, but instead provided project management services (i.e personnel). Blue City replaced Bovis months ago with another professional project management services provider.” Bovis Lend Lease declined to comment on this matter.
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