The Agricultural Development Bank of China (ADBC) offered loans of 49.8 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) for rural infrastructure in the first half of 2008, the bank said Beijing on Tuesday.

The loans covered 574 road, farming, irrigation, water, energy and environmental protection projects.

ADBC loans have supported the building or reconstruction of 13,300 km of roads, and about 11 million farmers got suitable water for drinking and irrigation through ADBC-funded water-supply projects. The bank said it had also extended funding to 34 projects that increased the areas of grasslands by 10.7 hectares.

The ADBC said its loans to leading agricultural enterprises had risen by 8.43 billion yuan in the first half. In 2007, the ADBC made loans of 146.8 billion yuan to leading agricultural enterprises.

The ADBC was established in 1994 by the central government to promote rural and agricultural development. Now it has 2,000 branches in 30 provincial areas.

(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2008)