November 3 -- Hutchison Whampoa (0013.HK) purchased a plot of land in Foshan, Guangdong province, for 800 million yuan, or a floor price of 4,276 yuan per square meter, reports guandian.cn

The plot of land is located in Chancheng district, and has a land area of 74,857.72 million square meters.

The reserve price of this plot of land was 800 million yuan. This plot of land will be developed for residential use, with some facilities to be built for commercial usage.

Hutchison Whampoa is obligated to supply 11,229 square meters of affordable housing to the local government at no charge.

In addition, the company will have to introduce a major retailer within a five year period from the date it purchased the plot of land. The retailer to be introduced needs to possess 800 self-managed outlets in China as of end 2010.

The land purchase marks the first foray for Hutchison Whampoa into Foshan, which has a foothold in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai and Jiangmen.

Construction is scheduled to start next May, and the project will be launched in the second half of 2013.