BEIJING: China’s fixed investment in highways in the first quarter rose 8.5 percent year on year to 228.9 billion yuan, the transport ministry said yesterday.
The combined investment in roads and waterways in the period increased 7 percent to 254.6 billion yuan (US$39.4 billion), it said.
A total of 4.9 billion trips were made and 8.8 billion tons of freight were transported via railways, highways and waterways in the period, said ministry official Zhang Dawei.
The number of journeys was down 1.8 percent from the same period of last year, while the freight figure was up 2.1 percent year on year, he said.
The cargo-handling capacity of the country’s major ports rose 1.7 percent in the period to 2.76 billion tons, while container throughput increased 1.9 percent to 50 million standard units, he said.
Zhang said he expects the momentum in freight transportation to continue throughout the first half of the year, though passenger traffic growth will remain subdued as a result of industrial restructuring.
