The State Development Bank (SDB) on December 24 pledged 13.3 billion yuan (1.6 billion US dollars) in loans to Qinghai Province in northwest China to support its development.

SDB and the Qinghai provincial government signed an agreement today on eleven financial cooperative projects involving a total investment of 20 billion yuan (about 2.3 billion US dollars).

The Bank aims to offer long-term financial support to building infrastructure and help state-owned enterprises manage their assets and loans from international banks and other sources.

The provincial government will recommend selected enterprises to apply for loans from the SDB and grant them preferential treatment.

The Lanzhou-Xining expressway, Wulan-Gelmud electric power transmission system, Gongbo Gorge hydropower station and the Qaidam natural gas project have been designated as key projects using the loans.

Chen Yuan, president of the SDB, said the Bank is China's largest policy-oriented bank with total assets exceeding 600 billion yuan. Since its founding five years ago, the Bank has granted almost 400 billion yuan in loans for the construction of a large number of important local and state projects in the central and western regions of the country.