The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Tuesday it would lend 200 million dollars to China for a project to reduce pollution in the country's third largest river basin.

The loan will go to clean up the Songhua River basin, improving the water supply and treatment of waste water and solid waste, the ADB said in a statement from its headquarters in Manila.

The project will improve the health of about 9.4 million urban residents in the northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin, the ADB said.

"Songhua River is heavily contaminated with chemicals, heavy metals, and other pollutants, with untreated wastewater being discharged directly into the river and its tributaries, posing a serious threat to public health," the ADB added.