MANILA -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $100 million in loans to help China's remote counties to build new urban infrastructure and boost tourism development, the bank said Friday.

The projects include construction and upgrading of roads, water supply, waste disposal and heating systems for the counties in Altay prefecture, in China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

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"Developing this badly needed infrastructure will improve the quality of life for about 100,000 urban residents in the five counties, as well as helping to reduce poverty," Jingmin Huang, ADB urban development specialist told media.

Altay, which is in the northern most part of Xinjiang and has land borders with Kazakhstan, Mongolia and the Russia Federation, has a number of scenic attractions, making tourism a potentially important contributor to the local economy.

However, damaged roads, ageing utilities, and poor waste disposal and sanitation systems, are creating environmental problems that are undermining efforts to promote tourism.