SHANGHAI, Apr 03 (Reuters/AFP): A unit of troubled property developer China Evergrande Group said construction work has resumed at 95 per cent of Evergrande's projects across the country as of late March.
Evergrande has resumed work at 734 developments in all of China as of March 27, including 424 projects recovering to normal construction levels, according to a post on Saturday on the official WeChat of the developer's Pearl River Delta business unit. The post did not give a figure for Evergrande's total number of developments.
Evergrande is the world's most indebted property developer, with over $300 billion in liabilities. It is struggling to repay bondholders, banks, suppliers, and deliver homes to buyers, epitomising a bloated industry suffering from the Chinese government's deleveraging campaign.
Evergrande will "continue to maintain the normal construction of the projects in order to deliver the buildings to the owners with guaranteed quality and quantity at all costs," according to the post.
Company Chairman Hui Ka Yan has pledged multiple times since 2021 that the company would resume construction work at full steam to ensure home deliveries.
Hui told staff in February that the company aimed to deliver 600,000 apartments in 2022, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and media reports.
"With the strong support from the provincial government, Evergrande's Pearl River Delta business worked to accelerate the resumption of work and production," Pearl River Delta said in the WeChat post.
Meanwhile, China said Saturday it was not doing anything "to circumvent" sanctions imposed on Russia, following warnings from EU officials that any attempt to aid Moscow's war in Ukraine could damage economic ties.
In the clearest indication yet of Beijing's position on the matter, a foreign ministry official told reporters: "We are not doing anything deliberately to circumvent sanctions imposed on Russia by Americans and Europeans."
But the statement, delivered after virtual talks between top EU and Chinese leaders on Friday, comes as Beijing holds to its stance of refusing to condemn the invasion by its ally Russia.
Washington has raised fears that China could potentially send military and economic aid to Russia or help it get through the tough Western sanctions which are battering the country's economy.
"We oppose sanctions and the effects of these sanctions also risk spilling to the rest of the world," said Wang Lutong, director-general of the Chinese foreign ministry's department of European affairs, at a press briefing.
