(Hong Kong, 10 September 2001) Guizhou TH Cement Group, a member of Shui On Construction and Materials Limited ("SOCAM", stock code: 983), signed a joint-venture contract last Saturday during the Fifth China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen, Fujian. The new joint venture will build a cement plant with an annual production capacity of 400,000 tonnes of high grade cement in Qianxinan in the southern part of Guizhou. Guizhou TH Cement has a 90% share of the new plant, which will have the only rotary kiln in Qianxinan. The total investment is estimated at Rmb140 million.

Mr Lawrence Choi, Managing Director of SOCAM, said after the signing ceremony, "We are very confident of the high grade cement market in Guizhou as demand will continue to be boosted with the commencement of numerous substantial infrastructure and housing projects in the province.”

Guizhou TH Cement has already acquired two cement plants in Zunyi in the northern part of Guizhou, including a 300,000-tonne cement plant in Honghuagang and Malin Cement Plant in Xishui, and plans to build new dry rotary kilns at both plants. Together with the new plant in Qianxinan, Guizhou TH Cement will have an annual production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes of high grade cement when the new kilns are completed by the 2002-2003 financial year. The Group will continue to expand into strategic locations in Guizhou through acquisitions and expansion to meet the anticipated increase in local demand for high grade cement, aiming to build a sizeable high grade cement group with an annual capacity of three million tonnes over the next three years.

In addition to holding 99% of Guizhou TH Cement, SOCAM has a 50% stake in the holding company established in 1995 to hold the joint venture Chongqing TH Cement Group, which is now the largest high grade cement producer in Chongqing. With an annual production capacity of around 2.8 million tonnes, Chongqing TH Cement accounts for more than 70% of the local high grade cement market. SOCAM anticipates that demand for high grade cement will continue to increase in the central and western provinces and will therefore continue to expand into strategic markets in both Chongqing and Guizhou.

Shui On Construction and Materials Limited (SOCAM), a member of the Shui On Group, was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1997 and is engaged in construction, construction materials and property development in Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland. Apart from SOCAM, the Shui On Group has a separate, non-listed property arm with investments in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Guangzhou and New York.