BEIJING — China's Ministry of Transport (MOT) has called for promoting effective investments in the sector, urging work resumption on major projects to meet the country's annual investment goal on the traffic network.

At a work conference on Feb 20, the ministry said it will fast-track a batch of construction projects that are in line with the country's development strategies while quickening the release of the second round of investment plans for 2020.

China plans to spend about 1.8 trillion yuan ($257 billion) on roads and waterways in 2020, and the MOT said it will actively push effective investment to achieve the target.

The first round of fixed-asset investment plans for 2020 released earlier included 41.92 billion yuan of rural road construction funds and around 7.14 billion yuan on port construction.

The MOT work conference also called for better monitoring of economic activities to restore the traffic network and transport services, as well as further efforts to reduce business burdens.

China has imposed a raft of measures in the battle against the novel coronavirus outbreak, prioritizing transport service of emergency supplies and medical staff and migrant workers traveling for production resumption.

The MOT scrapped all tolls across the country from Feb 17 to aid supply transportation and work resumption.