BEIJING — The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, approved 19 fixed-asset investment (FAI) projects with combined investment totaling 185.3 billion yuan ($26.4 billion) in the first two months of the year.

The projects are mostly related to transportation and the new and high-tech industries, according to Meng Wei, a spokeswoman with the commission.

A new railway will be built to better link Xining, capital of the plateau province of Qinghai, with Chengdu, capital of adjacent Sichuan province, to boost connectivity between the two regional city clusters and poverty relief efforts along the line.

A runway expansion project will help the Shenzhen airport better handle growing traffic in the Pearl River Delta, and facilitate the development of a world-class airport cluster in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Meng said.