HCC orders Sol-Plaza at Town-Ground to close as of tomorrow

The Honiara City Council has ordered the closure of Sol-Plaza at Townground as of tomorrow (22 November) chief among it reasons for the shut-down is for failing to remove containers in its compound.

In a letter today served to the owner of the plaza, Zong Wu Zhou, HCC Clerk Justus Deni ordered the closure of the plaza because of he failed to remove containers from the plaza area despite being told to remove them. The city clerk also cited Zhou’s failure to meet relevant fees as well as lack of approval permit for work now carried out at the plaza as some of the reasons. SBMOnline understands that work is ongoing on a hotel in the plaza and most of the materials are stored in the containers in the plaza compound. In addition to that, the clerk cited an incident, which a roof collapsed into another rented business whilst work was carried out there earlier this month.

Zhou is currently overseas in China and only his workers are working at the plaza.

The issue of crowded containers in the plaza area had raised serious concerns on the safety of customers and workers there.

The piling of containers there has resulted in limited parking space and restricted movement of customers in and out of the building.

One shop owner tonight expressed her disappointment on the closure but said they would comply with the order and shut their businesses tomorrow.

The owner said they would now pursue their loss of business with the owner of the plaza Zhou.

There was huge public outcry for the removal of the containers given the threat they have on customers there especially in the event one falls or there is an earthquake.

One customer told SBMOnline tonight that HCC’s action is legitimate and sends a warning to foreigners who don not comply with “our laws” must be dealt with appropriately.