Posts on the Noble Centre's Facebook page in 2020 advertised office spaces, describing the building as "gorgeous and glistening" and promising prospective tenants it could "accelerate your business" and "enhance your life".īut in September last year, the National Capital District Building Board wrote to advise that the occupancy certificate for the building had been rescinded. The 'gorgeous and glistening' building with 75 reported defects In court documents seen by the ABC, the company said PNG Ports was to pay a "certain amount on instalment until an estimated was paid to fully acquire the two levels" under an agreement signed in 2015.īut the dream of a glittering tower over Port Moresby's skyline quickly appears to have turned into a nightmare. PNG Ports had previously said China Railway Construction Engineering Group (PNG) Real Estate Co would build the tower on its land, and it would own the top two floors and contribute "a minor cost" to the joint venture. The company said it had invested $95 million in the project, which was developed as an equity partnership with PNG Ports Corporation, a local state-owned entity. In 2018, Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Port Moresby for a state visit, arriving a few days ahead of other world leaders who were attending the APEC Summit. The dream of a glittering tower over Port Moresby's skyline appears to have turned into a nightmare. He said it was the "single largest project by foreign investors in the real estate sector of Papua New Guinea" and would be the "tallest landmark" in Port Moresby. "We are assuring the Papua New Guinea people that as a state-owned enterprise and guided by the Belt and Road policy, our company is confident with Papua New Guinea's economy and will continuously support the nation's economic development," the general manager of the development, Shengwei Li, told local media in 2017. In 2017, the tower was touted as a symbol of "friendship between the two nations". The Noble Centre was built by the China Railway Construction Engineering Group (PNG) Real Estate Co at a time when China's growing presence in the country was attracting significant attention. A symbol of 'friendship' between China and PNG While Australia remains PNG's biggest aid donor, China has been delivering infrastructure projects, road upgrades, loans, and medical assistance for years now.īut the uninhabitable skyscraper has sparked concerns about the quality and benefit of some of the aid and investment being delivered. PNG is at the centre of a geopolitical contest of influence currently raging in the Pacific between nations including China, the US and Australia. The faults are at various times described as "highly illegal", "non-compliant", "poorly installed" and "dangerous". The 23-storey tower has been deemed uninhabitable after the discovery of more than 70 defects, which regulators say are a threat to the building and to people's safety.ĭocuments obtained by the ABC outline dozens of serious issues including mechanical, electrical and fire safety concerns. Steinway Tower is so skinny at the top that whenever the wind ramps up, the luxury homes on the upper floors sway around by a few feet.One building rises above the others on Port Moresby's skyline.īut the Noble Centre, built by a Chinese state-owned enterprise to be the tallest building in the country, sits empty. For comparison, the world’s tallest tower is Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which stands at 2,717 feet (828 meters). It’s located just south of Central Park, along a stretch of Manhattan’s 57th Street known as “Billionaires’ Row.”Īt 1,428 feet (435 meters), the building is the second-tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, second to the nearby Central Park Tower at 1,550 feet (470 meters). The 60 apartments in the tower range in cost from $18 million to $66 million per unit, and offer 360-degree views of the city. “The most slender buildings in the world are mostly in Hong Kong, and they’re around 17- or 18-to-1.” “Any time it’s 1-to-10 or more that’s considered a slender building 1-to-15 or more is considered exotic and really difficult to do,” SHoP Architects founding principal Gregg Pasquarelli said. The 84-story residential Steinway Tower, designed by New York architecture firm SHoP Architects, has the title of “most slender skyscraper in the world” thanks to its logic-defying ratio of width to height: 1-to-23 1/2. It’s not the tallest, but it is the skinniest - the world’s skinniest, in fact. NEW YORK (AP) - One skyscraper stands out from the rest in the Manhattan skyline.
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