ACCORDING to the mayor of Shaoguan, groups including New World Development and Guangdong Enterprise are expected to participate in the construction of an express highway for the city. A basic formula should be set up by the middle of the year, and an agreement should be signed before the end of the year. - ORIENTAL DAILY NEWS AS China continues to be short of electricity, the construction of power plants has become a major focus of investment. Such projects are considered worthy of banks' support. It is expected that a few bank-syndicated loans of more than $1 billion will be raised in Hongkong this year. - ORIENTAL DAILY NEWS MR Lee Lap, chairman of Termbray Industries, says his group is to focus on property in Guangzhou, where it has a land bank of 80,000 square metres. This land will be used for commercial and residential property developments. Mr Lee says a joint venture hasbeen set up with the Ministry of Aviation and Aeronautics to establish a paging service in Yangchun, Shanxi. There are expected to be between 2,000 and 3,000 subscribers. - WEN WEI PO MR Sun Wenjie, chairman of China Overseas Land and Investment, says he does not regret suspending the plan to spin off the group's construction arm for a separate listing, in the light of the unresolved problems affecting Hongkong's new airport. The group will be making efforts to expand this part of its business in preparation for a future listing. - WEN WEI PO MR Wong Tin-yau, of Chuang's China Investments, believes there will be consolidation in the China property market this year. He says his company will continue to put properties in Panyu, Dongguan and Danshui on the market. Mr Wong says Chuang's has signed an agreement with city authorities in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, to jointly develop a residential and commercial property with a floor area of 1.1 million square feet. - WEN WEI PO WEDLAKE recently proposed a full takeover of YGM International. The takeover documents say that among Wedlake's directors are Mr Tang Sung-ching and Mr Tse Mok-choi. Mr Tang is a garment manufacturer, while Mr Tse owns tax-free godowns in Zhuhai, Xiamen and Nanning. Wedlake claims to have 50,000 registered shares. Mr Tang has six while Mr Tse has four, a combined ownership of 0.02 per cent of the total shares. The owner of the other 99.8 per cent has not been revealed. - TIN TIN DAILY NEWS MR Maurice Yip How-yin, executive director of Same Time Holdings, whose main business is the production of consumer electronic goods, says the company recently bought a 650,000 square foot site in Dongguan. The site will be used for a production plant, to be built in three phases. The first phase, with a 270,000 sq ft floor area, will cost $13 million. - MING PAO QINGDAO Brewery, Beijing People's Machinery and Guangzhou Shipyard are expected to appoint financial consultants before the end of this month to arrange their listing in Hongkong. It is believed they aim to be listed by the middle of the year. It is understood that seven financial consultants were invited to Qingdao two weeks ago, and a subsidiary of the Bank of China group will be appointed. Guangzhou Shipyard is expected to appoint Peregrine, while Beijing Machinery is now in final discussions with merchant banks, one of these being Wardley. - SING TAO JIALING Corp was set up in Hongkong to represent the Sichuan provincial government. Jialing is now in talks with Paliburg International over the purchase of three floors at 338 Hennessy Road to serve as group headquarters. Mr Liu Guangbing, chairman of Jialing, says the group has formed joint ventures with CNT, and has more than 100 million yuan (about HK$133.9 million) to build a 38-storey financial centre in Chengdu. - HK ECONOMIC JOURNAL AMOY Properties' major shopping mall on the Peak will be complete this year. While leases are not yet on the market, there is said to have been strong interest in the development. The developer is hoping to attract a few major tenants before putting it onthe market. Mr Nelson Yuen Wai-leung, a director of Amoy Properties, says one interested party offered $1.8 billion for the whole complex. Amoy spent $750 million buying the land and building the property. - TA KUNG PAO CDL Hotels has over the past three months spent $1.9 billion on three hotels - Hongkong's Nikko Hotel, the Kuala Lumpur Regent and London's Gloucester Hotel. According to Mr Gan Khai Choon, a director of the CDL group, the three hotels should be profitable this year. Mr Ngan says the group is planning to enter the hotel business in China, but that it will not invest more than 10 per cent of its net assets of up to $600 million. - HK ECONOMIC TIMES Chinese Press Digest is produced by Corporate Information Services. For pre-publication and other services, telephone 865 5006 or fax 865 5835.