BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment in the transport sector expanded to nearly 2.2 trillion yuan (about $339.22 billion) in the first eight months of the year, official data showed.

The figure was up by 3.2 percent from a year ago in the same period, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Specifically, the investment in highway construction amounted to 1.6 trillion yuan, up 6 percent year-on-year in the January-August period, while that in the waterway sector soared 18.4 percent year-on-year to 91.4 billion yuan during the period.

In August alone, the country's fixed-asset investment in the transport sector reached 304.9 billion yuan, down 7.6 percent year-on-year, the data showed.