Work on Canberra's stalled Nishi residential development could resume as early as Monday, with an official announcement imminent.
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Fairfax has been told negotiations to replace Ply (ACT), formerly PBS, as the chief builder for the $550 million project are all but complete.
Nikias Diamond, another ACT building company, is also carrying out building work at the site.
''Ring me tomorrow, I'll have something to say then,'' Ply (ACT) administrator Alan Hayes said on Wednesday morning.
Johnathon Efkarpidis, the Nishi Residential Building director for the Molonglo Group, said no agreements had been signed as of midday Wednesday.
''I'm not going to say anything until something has been signed off on,'' he said.
''We are working diligently to get this thing back on track; when we know something you'll be the first to know.''
Individual subcontractors have confirmed meetings with the administrator are continuing. One subcontractor, who declined to be named, said he was happy to return to the site so long as guarantees were given of payment for both past and future work.
''The building has to be finished,'' he said.
''It's no good to anybody sitting there only 85 per cent or 90 per cent complete. But we're not going to do it for charity.''
Fairfax has been told some contractors have been offered a minimum of 75¢ in the dollar for outstanding debts and full reimbursement for any future work.
''Molonglo is between the devil and the deep blue sea,'' a source said. ''They have to get the original subbies [who were working on the site until Ply went into voluntary receivership in March] back. It [for an outsider] would be like having a giant Meccano set with no plans and some of the pieces missing.''
Some of Canberra's largest construction subcontractors have been caught out by the decision by Ply (ACT) to enter voluntary liquidation on March 4. Other victims include firms from interstate.
''The cash flow of the company is insufficient to meet its debts,'' Mr Hayes said on March 5.
''Some subbies are owed a lot of money, some subbies are owed not much money.''
Other Ply (ACT) projects included Astin Apartments and the Rex Hotel redevelopment.
ACT Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union secretary Dean Hall said the decision by Ply (ACT) to enter voluntary liquidation was the latest in a string of building company failures that were eroding subcontractor confidence and jeopardising jobs at risk.
''Some of these subbies employ hundreds of people,'' he said.
''They have been hurt and hurt badly; they don't know if they are going to get paid for the work they have done and they don't know if they are going to get their retentions back.''
Retentions are bond payments put up by subcontractors to guarantee the quality of their work.
They are usually about 10 per cent of the contract value and, in cases when a builder goes under, are not automatically returned.
In some cases these payments can be a million dollars or even more.
''When a company goes into administration, the retention goes into the pot,'' Mr Hall said.