China Development Bank (CDB) said Thursday that it will extend 100 billion yuan (15.87 billion U.S. dollars) in loans to finance the government's affordable housing projects in 2012.

As of the end of last year, its outstanding loans to affordable housing projects totaled 213.6 billion yuan, or 61 percent of the total granted by the country's banks, CDB Chairman of the Board of Directors Chen Yuan said.

The government has vowed to build 36 million affordable housing units during the 2011-2015 period in an effort to give more middle and low-income households access to housing and stabilize runaway property prices, with 10 million units planned for both 2011 and 2012.

Besides funding the affordable housing projects, the policy-oriented state-owned bank also promised to loan 50 billion yuan this year to support the building of water conservation facilities, Chen said.