Odour problem dents revenue

Land and Houses will suffer a 5-per-cent loss in monthly revenue while its Siwalee Suvarnabhumi residential project in Samut Prakan is waging a court battle over air pollution from a nearby manufacturing plant.

"If customers want to buy into the project, they can but they have to realise it faces smell pollution in a case that is now before the Civil Court," Suparat Veerakul, vice president for corporate communications, said yesterday.

The leading housing developer had to suspend sales at Siwalee due to noxious odours wafting over from the steel plant belonging to Sammit Metalwork, which is located about 500 metres away.

The project had been averaging Bt80 million in monthly sales - or 5 per cent of L&H's total monthly sales of Bt1.6 million.

But last month almost all the home-owners started to protest the olfactory attack by putting up billboards and banners around the project, causing interested visitors to delay their decision to buy.

The company had to explain to prospective customers what was happening in the project. Those who still wanted a unit had to sign a document confirming their awareness of the project's proximity to the metal plant and the odour problem.

"We cannot say when this problem will be solved, but we have tried to help our customers by supporting the legal process that now going on at the Civil Court to ask the company to set up a system to reduce air pollution from the manufacturing plant," Suparat said.

L&H had targeted sales of Bt21.02 billion this year, but might have to lower that by about 5 per cent if it cannot get rid of the smell at Siwalee.

Last year the developer earned Bt3.1 billion on sales of Bt19.8 billion.

Siwalee Suvarnabhumi, valued at Bt3 billion, had secured sales of nearly 500 units of the total 985 up for sale. The remainder were undergoing the selling process when marketing was halted.

L&H does not have the authority to shut down the plant, which has to go through the legal process, although the company wants to end the problem as soon as possible, she said.

Yesterday, nearly 60 Siwalee Suvarnabhumi owners visited L&H's head office at Q House Lumpini. They asked top management to solve the odour problem as soon as possible after having had to live with the stench since June 2006.

"We bought the project because we trusted the Land and Houses brand. We believe that the company has to find a good environment for its projects. But now we face smell pollution from the metal plant that is close to the project. We need the company's management to take quick action to solve the problem that has lasted two years," a home-owner said. When the company launched sales of the project it did not give any information about the metal plant and the foul-smell problem to buyers, he said.

"We don't want to sell the project back to the company. We bought homes costing nearly Bt10 million. We  want to see Land and Houses take more action than just waiting for the court process," he said.

The home-owners will give management 10 days to meet with them and want to know how management will take care of this problem within 60 days. If the company cannot solve the problem, the home-owners will find other ways to fight the company.