BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- China's transport sector sustained stable growth in July, with both freight volumes and passenger flows rising and fixed-asset investment remaining strong, according to official data released Wednesday.

The sector handled 4.97 billion tonnes of freight last month, an increase of 3.4 percent from the same period a year earlier, and faster than the 2.9 percent growth in June, Li Ying, spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport, said at a press conference.

Specifically, freight volumes rose 4.5 percent for rail, 3.3 percent for road, 3.4 percent for waterway, and a robust 15.3 percent for civil aviation.

Port throughput nationwide also expanded at a faster pace. Cargo handled by Chinese ports reached 1.54 billion tonnes in July, up 6.9 percent year on year, with the growth rate accelerating by 2.2 percentage points from the previous month.

Passenger mobility continued to pick up, reflecting stronger travel demand. A total of 5.71 billion cross-regional passenger trips were recorded in July, representing a 2.2 percent increase compared to the same period last year, and also a 0.7 percentage point improvement from June.

During the period, railway, waterway and civil aviation passenger traffic increased by 6.6 percent, 2.1 percent, and 3.9 percent, respectively, year on year. Meanwhile, road passenger flow went up 1.8 percent year on year.

From January to July, cross-regional passenger trips totaled 39.46 billion, up 3.9 percent year on year.

Transport infrastructure investment stayed at a high level. Total fixed-asset investment in the sector reached 306.1 billion yuan (about 43.05 billion U.S. dollars) in July. Of this, railway investment accounted for 77.1 billion yuan, highway investment 200.5 billion yuan, waterway investment 17.3 billion yuan, and civil aviation investment 11.2 billion yuan.

By 2027, China plans to complete constructing and upgrading 300,000 kilometers of rural roads, and perform restorative maintenance on another 300,000 kilometers of existing roads.

The country will also renovate 9,000 unsafe bridges, Li said, adding that public bus networks should be expanded to cover 55 percent of villages.

"Overall, the transport sector maintained a steady upward momentum in July," Li said. ■