PRESS DIGEST - Hong Kong - July 26

HONG KONG, July 26 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in Hong Kong newspapers on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

-- Luxury property prices in the city are expected to rise sharply if a prime site on the Peak is sold for HK$11.4 billion ($1.48 billion), at the top of a forecast range, in a land auction on Wednesday, analysts said.

-- A railway system should be added into the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which cost HK$43 billion ($5.53 billion), so as to prevent the bridge from being under used and to shorten the project's payback period to 19 years from 48 years, said Walter Kwok, the ousted chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties (0016.HK).

-- More than a thousand people gathered outside Guangzhou Metro station to defend the Cantonese dialect against a proposal to switch programming on the main channels of Guangdong TV to Mandarin from Cantonese.

SING TAO DAILY

-- China Aoyuan Property (3883.HK) said it had purchased an office building in Guangzhou Tianhe district for 161 million yuan ($23.75 million) for investment purpose.

APPLE DAILY

-- Chinese construction machinery maker Sany Heavy Industry Co (600031.SS) will submit its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (0388.HK) at the earliest in August, sources said.

WEN WEI PO

-- Exploration and mining group Zhaojin Mining Industry (1818.HK) said its wholly owned subsidiary company, Sparky International, had subscribed for 20 million ordinary shares of Citigold Corporation Limited (Citigold) (CTO.AX) for A$2 million ($1.79 million). The company will become the fifth largest shareholder of Citigold.

TA KUNG PAO

-- Property developer Greentown China Holdings (3900.HK) will invest 30 billion yuan ($4.43 billion) in Shenyang's housing project in the next three years, vice-chairman Luo Zhao-ming said.

For Chinese newspapers, see...............[PRESS/CN]

For Taiwan newspapers, see.[PRESS/TW]

(Reporting by Twinnie Siu; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)