Shanghai Daily news

Hong Kong developer Kerry Properties said yesterday it will pay 2.513 billion yuan (US$311 million) to acquire a prime site beside West Lake in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, to develop mixed-use properties.
The company said in a statement that it will first pay 2.46 billion yuan for a site comprising two plots of land with a total developable site area of 65,938 square meters.
Kerry Properties, controlled by the family of Malaysian sugar tycoon, Robert Kuok, won the two pieces of land through a public bidding last month.
The company also said it will sign a separate contract with Hangzhou's bureau of land resources to acquire three plots of land nearby for 53 million yuan once residents living on the land have been completely relocated. The company didn't give a timetable for the relocation.
All the five plots of land are situated less than one kilometer from the northeast corner of the scenic West Lake and borders Yan'an Road, a major commercial road on the eastern side of the lake. The site is now used as the campus of Zhejiang University, Kerry said.
The firm said it plans to build a mixed-used property development of hotel, apartments and shopping complex on the site. The project is expected to start in the second quarter of 2007 and will be completed in early 2009.
Industry insiders cautioned, however, the company may face the challenge to relocate residents on the land.
Shui On Group, which has also acquired land beside the West Lake two years ago, still faces difficulty in relocating residents and may have to delay the second phase of its Xihu Tiandi project.