The project will be available for public tender in October and the bidding result will be released by the end of this year, Dalian Foreign Economic and Trade Bureau chief Liu Dechun says. The project will comprise an office-hotel-residential complex that will require an investment of HK$39 billion ($5 billion). Dalian is China's northernmost ice-free seaport and has a population of more than six million.

The interest of Hong Kong firms comes despite attempts by the Chinese government to slow foreign investment in real estate. Hutchison in particular has been investing aggressively in the mainland over the past two years. It has teamed up with Cheung Kong Holdings, both controlled by tycoon Li Ka-shing, on a number of projects in Beijing, Tianjin, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai and other cities over the past 19 months, committing to spend more than HK$12 billion ($1.5 billion). And Sun Hung Kai, Hong Kong's largest developer by market cap, spent more than HK$9 billion ($1.16 billion) on acquiring residential sites in Shanghai and Hangzhou last year.