Ten domestic financial institutions agreed Saturday to grant combined loans amounting to 3.35 billion yuan (about US$404 million) to the China Yangtze Power Co., Ltd, the sole manager of electric power production in central China's gigantic Three Gorges Project.  

Yangtze Power will use the money to purchase the first batch of four power generating units that have become operational in accordance with an agreement signed with the banking syndicate in Beijing.

The China Construction Bank (CCB), one of the country's "big four" state-owned commercial banks, will lead the syndicate to offer as much as two billion yuan. Other leading loan providers include the Three Gorges Financing Co., Ltd, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the China Minsheng Banking Group.

A State Council plan has approved Yangtze Power to gradually purchase the power generation assets in the gigantic Three Gorges waster conservancy project, and the majority of the funds needed will be borrowed and come from the company's profits, with a smaller proportion being money collected from capital markets.

According to authorities of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission attending Saturday's signing ceremony, the move was a fine example for cooperation between banks and enterprises and among banks, which was of great significance for the electric power industries to broaden money-raising channels and the financial industries to expand services for clients.

(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2003)