BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment (FAI) in transport sector rose by 9.4 percent year-on-year in the first seven months of the year, official data showed.

In the Jan-July period, total FAI in the sector stood at nearly 1.796 trillion yuan (about $260 billion), according to the Ministry of Transport.

Combined investment in highways and waterways took the lion's share of the total FAI with an inflow of 1.35 trillion yuan in the period, a year-on-year growth of 12.1 percent.

In July alone, China's transport investment went up 26.7 percent from the same period last year, 6.4 percentage points faster than the increase in June and registering positive growth for four consecutive months, the data showed.