Jewel developer responds after Minister’s call-in decision

IT'S a sad day for developer Sheng Wei as the proposed Jewel development was officially called in yesterday afternoon.

JEWEL: Artist's impressions of the proposed Jewel high-rise on the Bargara esplanade.

IT'S a sad day for developer Sheng Wei as the proposed Jewel development was officially called in yesterday afternoon.

A spokesman for Mr Wei said the developer was overseas and he could not understand the decision made by State minister Cameron Dick.

"We jumped through hoops to make this happen," the spokesman said.

"It's really disappointing, really. We were looking forward to creating a beautiful project over there, something they haven't seen before, but it looks like it's more politics than a realistic (decision)."

The spokesman said the company had received a letter confirming the project's status, but not why the decision had been made.

He said Mr Wei's legal department had gone through the application with a fine tooth comb to ensure there would be no grounds for the State Government to call in the project.

"I still don't understand what the State Government sees in this," he said.

"But to call the whole project in and getting us to start from scratch, well it doesn't look good, that's all I can say."

The spokesman said they would now have to wait for details and reassess the validity of the Bargara high-rise.

But he said costs were quickly stacking up.

"It's cost us a fortune," he said.

"It's very hard to go forward with this, because we're not going to go and spend a whole heap of money again without knowing what they want and what they want to achieve.

"It may not be feasible for us to go ahead with this project if the demand changes.

"After spending so much time and effort and money, and majority of the people like it... I don't understand really.

"It's not in Brisbane or Sydney or Melbourne, (so) it's not going to be selling like hotcakes, especially in this environment, and these people are still making it more difficult for us. I just don't understand it."

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