MANILA - The Asian Development Bank has extended a $275 million loan to China to help its bus operators shift their fleets to cleaner fuel, a move that is seen to reduce the growing air pollution in Chinese cities.

The Manila-based lender said Tuesday that the loan will be given to five top-tier financial leasing companies in China to finance leased buses that run on cleaner fuel such as compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas as well as electric and hybrid buses. The financing program is estimated to lease at least 5,000 clean buses by 2018, to be deployed in key cities and help China cut its carbon emissions.

"This program will help roll out more green buses onto the streets by easing the funding bottleneck of financial leasing companies and bus operators," Philip Erquiaga, Director General of ADB's Private Sector Operations Department, said in a statement.

The program is ADB's first nonsovereign loan program to support sustainable transport in China.

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