China's transport sector reported a steady increase in fixed-asset investment in the first half of the year, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.
The fixed-asset investment in the sector exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan during the period, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, the ministry said on July 28 at a press conference.
The majority of the funds went to road and waterway infrastructure construction, with investment in road construction climbing 9.7 percent from a year ago to exceed 1.27 trillion yuan.
Investment in waterway construction came in at 73.9 billion yuan in the January-June period, up 4.7 percent year-on-year.
China stepped up investment in roads and other transport infrastructure in rural areas in the first half of this year as part of the efforts to vitalize the countryside.
The country had completed fixed-asset investment worth 183.65 billion yuan or about $27.24 billion in rural roads in the January-June period, up 15.9 percent over one year ago, Gu Zhifeng, an official with the Ministry of Transport, told a press conference on July 28.
Some 60,000 km of rural roads and 3,283 unsafe bridges had been reconstructed during the period, up 17.7 percent and 9.2 percent year-on-year respectively.
China has made steady progress in ensuring smooth logistics and freight transportation over the past three months, the Ministry of Transport said on July 28.
"Expressways, ports and waterways across the nation have operated smoothly," according to Wang Xiuchun, an official with the ministry, adding that the number of trucks on expressways on July 26 rose 10.3 percent from April 18.
Key logistic indicators reported stable growth, Wang said.
Since July, China's rail cargo volume, cargo throughput at major ports and business volume of its postal industry all exceeded figures recorded in the same period in 2019, respectively.
Major transportation hubs have basically resumed full-capacity production, with the daily average container throughput of the Shanghai Port at 139,800 twenty-foot equivalent units since July, maintaining positive growth momentum.
