Zhongkun pledges to fight for Iceland project

By Mei Jia (China Daily) Updated: 2012-12-05 09:27

Huang Nubo, chairman of Beijing-based Zhongkun Investment Group, is planning to protest directly to the Icelandic government after it ordered him to reapply for permission to go ahead with a major tourist project on the northeast coast of the island.

Huang said: "I feel I have been disrespected and deceived, as the owner of a private Chinese company trying to invest in Iceland."

Huang said he suspected the decision had been made because of discrimination against Chinese investors, and claimed it had broken World Trade Organization rules.

Zhongkun pledges to fight for Iceland project

A model of Zhongkun Plaza on display at a housing fair in Beijing. The Icelandic government for the second time has rejected Zhongkun Investment Group Co's bid to purchase a plot of land to build a resort in the European country. Wu Changqing / For China Daily

But he added he will not be withdrawing his plans, and expected Icelandic officials to give him a clear and final decision on the project's future as soon as possible.

Architect Halldor Johannsson, Huang's representative in Iceland, told China Daily that he was still optimistic about the future of the deal, adding "we are working professionally, and it's a learning process for both sides".

Huang was first invited to invest by local landowners in Iceland in August 2011, and proposed a $200 million deal to build a high-end tourist project in the country's northeast, which involved buying 300 square kilometers of land.

The deal was first rejected by the Icelandic interior minister in November 2011, despite the possible creating of 400 to 600 jobs.

In May 2012, talks were resumed with Huang by offering him and his company the possibility of leasing the land instead of buying it.

Huang accepted the offer, and announced in October that he got details of the draft contract and both sides were planning for a signing ceremony in Beijing.

On Sunday, however, Huang learned that the Icelandic government had asked his Iceland-registered firm Zhongkun Grimsstadir to submit a new application that would be reviewed once again by a government committee.

"It came as an embarrassing shock that they were still unable to make a final decision on the application as much information remained unavailable," Huang told China Daily.

Some local commentators have been raising questions about how the project compromises regional security because of Iceland's strategic location in the Atlantic, where several nations are competing for resources.

"I don't understand why they bring up terms like regional security and strategic location again," Huang added.

"I've offered them everything they need to know," he said. "So it sounds to me like they are making excuses."

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