CHINA is to invest about 1.3 trillion yuan (US$196.9 billion) in building 10 million units of affordable homes in 2011, Qi Ji, vice minister of housing and urban-rural development, said yesterday.

Of the total, 500 billion yuan will be provided by central and local governments, and the rest will be raised by public institutions and businesses, Qi told reporters.

"What we want to emphasize is that at least 10 percent of net revenue from land sales by local governments must be put into the affordable housing program," he said.