Huang Nubo may quit Iceland land deal

After a wait of nearly two years, Chinese billionaire Huang Nubo is looking forward to a breakthrough in April on his multimillion-dollar deal to buy land in Iceland, while admitting that he might pull out by May if no progress is made.

The chairman of Beijing-based Zhongkun Investment Group caused a stir in Iceland in August 2011 when he proposed to buy 300 sq km of the island, comprising 0.3 per cent of the country, to develop a $200 million property with a "120-room hotel, airport, golf course and horse-riding facilities".[

"There will very likely be a favorable turning point on the deal in April," Huang told China Daily on Tuesday.

"But if I get nothing clear and final from the Icelandic government by the end of May, I'll no longer be interested in pursuing the project, and I'll let it go."

Huang shrugged off a report in The New York Times on Saturday questioning his intention to buy "a place so isolated that you can almost hear ghosts dancing in the snow".

"Again, they're demonizing a simple business action," Huang said of the land, located in northeast Iceland.

Huang, 57, has just returned from a trip to New York where he became a rare Chinese member of the Explorers Club. Huang was accepted by the club, which includes late astronaut Neil Armstrong and movie director James Cameron among its membership, for his exploration of the world's peaks and the two poles, along with his charity activities.