Chinese tycoon has new shot at Iceland land Chinese tycoon Huang Nubo may get a fresh chance to buy a vast tract of land in Iceland as local municipalities explore ways to circumvent national legislation that scuppered the deal last year. Mr Huang, a mountaineer and poet who is also one of China's richest men, last year tried to buy 300 sq km of wild heathland in northern Iceland to build an eco-resort. But the deal was blocked on the grounds that it contravened rules on foreign land ownership. Nine municipalities in north-east Iceland are now trying to put together a new deal that would have them buy the land and lease it back to Mr Huang. Last year, Mr Huang's proposal prompted heated debate in Iceland, with critics saying it would give Beijing a strategic foothold in Iceland, whose deepwater ports are crucial for Arctic shipping routes. Mr Huang has denied having any relationship with the Chinese government. "I flew to China two weeks ago and introduced to Huang Nubo the idea that the municipality could buy the land and then simply lease it to him," said Bergur Elias Agustsson, the mayor of Nordurthing, where the resort would be located. A spokeswoman said that Mr Huang was looking at several options for investing in Iceland, and that nothing had been finalised yet. Invest in Iceland, a government organisation promoting foreign investment abroad, said that there was no reason in principle why a leaseback deal should not go ahead, pointing to similar arrangements with three foreign-owned aluminium smelters in Iceland. "This is the route that has been taken previously, and I do not see why this rout should not be available for a project such as this," said Thordur Hilmarsson, managing director of Invest in Iceland. But the interior ministry, which blocked the deal last year to the disappointment of the Northern municipalities and many others in the government, warned that long-term leases to people or companies outside Europe still needed its approval. "Of course the same aspects as last year would be discussed within the ministry," said Johannes Tomasson, a spokesperson for the ministry in Reykjavik. Mr Agustsson remains optimistic, saying he hoped to "welcome Mr Huang to Iceland" with an offer this month, assuming that discussions with the government and the other municipalities go well. He said that while buying the land would be expensive for the small municipalities, "quite a few financial institutions have already contacted me to ask if they could help with the financing." He added that Mr Huang said he "was willing to seriously look at the idea," but had made no commitments. Just two weeks after the rejection late last year, Mr Huang and his company Zhongkun began looking for ways to resurrect the deal. The company met with Iceland's Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism to discuss the possibility of pushing through a restructured deal. The discussions centred on the idea of reclassifying Zhongkun's investment so that it would fall under the approval of a different ministry, thereby circumventing Ögmundur Jónasson, the interior minister, who issued the original rejection, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr Huang's connection with Iceland dates back to his time at university when he was roommates with an Icelandic student studying in Beijing. After graduating, Mr Huang worked in the Chinese Communist party's propaganda department and briefly in China's construction ministry before founding Zhongkun, a tourism conglomerate, in the early 1990s. Mr Huang visited Iceland for the first time last year, and said he instantly fell in love with its pristine environment.