Hui Ka Yan, the Chairman of the China Evergrande Group, issued a statement to employees in which he promised the company would ensure project deliveries and payment of its debts going forward, as the credit crisis of the company drags on into 2023.

In the January 1st letter to employees of the real estate developer, Hui said this would prove a crucial year, in which Evergrande would complete residential projects it had pre-sold, as he noted that the developer had resumed construction on all 732 real estate sites it had projects on last year.

The letter said, “As long as Evergrande employees can keep construction going, resume sales and restart operations, we will repay all kinds of debt and resolve risks in the end. Evergrande will start a new chapter after that.”

Evergrande will have to overcome several obstacles this year, as the Chinese economy weakens, China continues to battle outbreaks of the Covid-19 virus, and the demand for housing slumps in the nation. Some analysts predict the developer may have to surrender more undeveloped land parcels to local governments in order to raise capital to fund the construction of unfinished homes it is contracted to deliver.

However the developer has failed to produce a “preliminary restructuring plan” it had promised to produce by the end of July. It then missed another promised 2022 year-end deadline for presentation of the plan.

In early December, the company held an ad-hoc meeting of its dollar bond-holders to formally discuss plans, according to a Bloomberg report. The company is still facing a winding-up lawsuit in Hong Kong with respect to the 1.97 trillion yuan ($286 billion) of liabilities it still faces, which it must confront in the midst of a property crisis which has halted construction of projects across the nation.

It is expected that by the end of February or early March, the company will receive support from offshore creditors, according to a statement by the company’s legal representative, made during a winding-up hearing in late November. Evergrande’s legal counsel was told by the judge in the hearing that the company must present, “something more concrete” in the next hearing on March 20th.

In the letter, Hui noted that in 2022, Evergrande delivered 301,000 residential units, meeting its target production. The letter also noted an electric vehicle startup the developer had begun, began mass production and delivery of its Hengchi 5 model EV.