M+ museum reportedly owes payment to 160 subcontractors

Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) is reportedly owing payments to more than 160 subcontractors who involved in building the M+ museum, with one company seeking a payment of about HK$27 million, according to a report by SCMP.

Bord, a subcontractor that initiated the legal proceedings against Blue Poles, a subsidiary of the authority. According to the report, Bord served a statutory demand of HK$27.86 million to Blue Poles on 9 November, claiming that it had been owed several times the payment received for building the French oak flooring in museum’s basement. It said if the debt was not paid within three weeks, the statutory demand would allow for the court to find Blue Poles insolvent and initiate its dissolution. Bord was paid more than HK$10 million for the construction.

In a court hearing on 9 December, madam justice Linda Chan granted an interim injunction in favour of Blue Poles. The company applied last week for a temporary court order to prevent a winding-up petition, said the report.

In the court filing, Blue Poles' lawyers said Bord’s demand was “disingenuous and improper”, and that it amounted to an abuse of the court’s process to circumvent arbitration procedures and force settlement of “unsubstantiated” claims, according to the report. Blue Poles told the court that it was solvent and won an interim injunction to temporarily halt the winding-up petition proceedings, which it said would cause “irreparable harm” to the reputation of M+ museum. Bord was temporarily barred from taking legal action against Blue Poles over fees it claimed to be owed. Meanwhile, Chan urged the parties to resolve their differences through arbitration. 

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out to Blue Poles and WKCDA for a statement.

Back in July 2018, HKFP reported that subcontractors working for M+ were paid by the government-appointed management authority instead of by the main contractor. According to the report, a letter dated 7 February, 2017 sent by the main contractor Hsin Chong Construction Company, stated that interim payments to subcontractors would be paid directly by the WKCDA. It also stated that the measure was adopted temporarily to address concerns of “unfounded” negative media coverage. The contract was worth HK$5.9 billion to HK $6 billion, and funding for the construction was approved by the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee.

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