BEIJING — China's transport sector reported a steady increase in fixed-asset investment in the first half of the year, data from the Ministry of Transport showed.

The fixed-asset investment in the sector exceeded 1.6 trillion yuan (about $237.35 billion) during the period, up 6.7 percent year-on-year, the ministry said on July 28 at a press conference.

The majority of the funds went to road and waterway infrastructure construction, with investment in road construction climbing 9.7 percent from a year ago to exceed 1.27 trillion yuan.

Investment in waterway construction came in at 73.9 billion yuan in the January-June period, up 4.7 percent year-on-year.