China Development Bank (CDB) said Wednesday that it would loan 100 billion yuan (about 15.2 billion U.S. dollars) to finance affordable housing projects in the country this year.

The money would be spent in construction of 10 million units of affordable homes, the central government's target for 2011, according to a contract CDB signed with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development in Beijing Wednesday.

To fulfil the government target, an estimated total investment of 1.4 trillion yuan is needed.

"Raising money for the construction of 10 million units of affordable homes is the most difficult part," said Jiang Weixin, minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The contract between CDB and the ministry also pledged that both sides would cooperate to find new ways of money raising, as well as carry out medium-term and long-term financial planning for affordable home projects.

CDB's loans to low-income families totaled 299.5 billion yuan by the end of 2010, of which, 145.5 billion yuan went to affordable housing projects.

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