BEIJING — China's fixed-asset investment in the transport sector maintained steady growth in the first half of the year, official data showed.

The total fixed-asset investment increased 8.3 percent year-on-year to over 1.57 trillion yuan (about $243 billion) in the Jan.-June period, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The transport sector is seeing speedy recovery, said the ministry, adding that key cities have already seen rail services back to the pre-epidemic level.

Specifically, the investment in highway and waterway construction amounted to 1.2 trillion yuan in the first six months of the year, up 13.3 percent year-on-year and rising 22.2 percent from the same period in 2019.