(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- In a further blow to the troubled China Evergrande Group, a municipal government in eastern Anhui province has revoked the rights to a parcel of land after a unit of the heavily indebted real estate titan failed to pay the agreed fees on time.

The Hefei branch of Evergrande Real Estate Group bid CNY877 million (USD135.8 million) for a 116,905 square meter plot of land in Anqing city last March with plans to turn it into a residential and commercial center. However, the company has since failed to cough up the funds and the contract has been terminated, the Anqing Land Reserve Center said yesterday.

Shenzhen-based Evergrande is also in danger of losing another twenty plots in Lanzhou, northwestern Gansu province. The provincial department of natural resources warned in July that those who do not pay their land-use rights soon will have their contracts rescinded.

Evergrande has been grappling with mounting debts brought on by overaggressive expansion and is under great pressure by regulators to reduce its debt burden as they rein in excessive borrowing in the real estate sector. Struggling to pay its dues, the group is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits. Its stock has lost 80 percent of its value so far this year.

Editor: Kim Taylor