440 bln credit line for building smart cities: ministry

Banks and investors promised a hefty credit line of at least 440 billion yuan (70.3 billion U.S. dollars) for China's "smart city" projects, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MOHURD).

After the China Development Bank announced in January that it would offer at least 80 billion yuan in credit for building smart cities over the next three years, two other commercial banks promised at least the same amount of credit for such projects, according to information released at a MOHURD seminar held on Wednesday.

Other institutional investors also signed an agreement in early April to extend another 200 billion yuan in credit for building smart cities, the ministry said.

This means that total credit of at least 440 billion yuan is likely to be granted to smart city projects across the country.

The ministry, however, did not specify the names of the institutions or the banks.

China has promoted the concept of smart cities, including the application of information technology in urban management and the construction of low-carbon architecture, amid the country's renewed urbanization drive.

The government has set up 90 smart city demonstration areas and more applications are under review, the MOHURD said.