TOO EARLY TO JUDGE JEWEL

YUHU Group director Jimmy Huang, whose company has taken over developing the ambitious Jewel beachfront triple towers, is usually a man of few words.

Back in September he was on site in Surfers Paradise for a Jewel-backed International Kite Festival community day. He declined to talk about the 900-strong workforce that had just walked off the site in protest as work ground to a halt amid confusion around work retenders and what to do next on site.

At the time, Mr Huang said he wanted to focus on the kite festival.

But this week, the son of Chinese billionaire and Yuhu Group chairman Huang Xiangmo, decided it was time to pipe right up.

He delivered a spray in the face of subcontractors getting concerned about seven-figure payments they were due and photos showing the unfinished state of some of the 512 apartments which prompted union man Scott Vink to question if it would be finished by mid-2019 as scheduled.

Mr Huang asserted it was disappointing some were losing sight of the bigger picture and talking down Jewel.

“It is a massive and complex project and it would be unrealistic to think that every aspect always runs smoothly and to plan,” Mr Huang noted.

He’s right. The construction of the three shimmering, crystalline Jewel towers is one ambitious project. It has been described as an “architect’s picnic” and it will have been no mean feat when completed.

The exterior is largely complete and quite breathtaking as viewed from Surfers Paradise beach.

Like Mr Huang, the last thing the city wants to see is the artistic project – with its 169-room hotel and residential apartments – become a very expensive waterfront sculpture.

Mr Huang is justified in pointing out the complexity and mammoth nature of the undertaking. If Yuhu Group had not come in and taken over the project from founding developers Wanda Ridong, who knows where the progress on site would be now.

There is no question the towers are an eye-catching drawcard and to a degree will put the Gold Coast further on the map internationally.

Jewel’s beach-edge pools, bar and restaurant area, which will be a city attraction once finished and available for use, will be a superb addition to the landscape for visitors and locals alike.

A $1.4 billion project is never going to run smoothly – and Mr Huang is right on another of his points that his company has options and has chosen the Gold Coast in what is a huge vote of confidence in the city.

Ultimately the proof in the pudding — and what Yuhu Group should be finally judged on — is the result on completion next year.