BEIJING - THE World Bank and France have agreed to lend China more than US$900 million (S$1.35 billion) to rebuild areas devastated by a massive earthquake earlier this year, state media reported on Sunday.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the World Bank will provide a loan of US$710 million to China - US$510 million of which will be allocated to southwestern Sichuan province, hardest hit by the May 12 quake that left nearly 90,000 people dead or missing.

The rest will go to neighboring Gansu province, Xinhua said, citing Ede Ijjasz, a World Bank manager for China and Mongolia.

Xinhua said the loans still need board approval by the international lending institution in December.

The money will be used for the construction of roads, bridges, water pipelines, hospitals and child care facilities, the report said.

The French Development Agency, meanwhile, will lend China US$200 million for reconstruction of urban infrastructure and rural houses in the quake zone, Xinhua said.

Last month, Chinese media reported that the government has raised about a quarter of the nearly US$250 billion it needs to rebuild after the earthquake, which destroyed roads, knocked down buildings, left thousands of schools in piles of rubble and destroyed the homes of millions of people. -- AP