Aerial view of a section of the Hezhou-Bama expressway. [Photo by Lu Zhonghua/China News Service]

The fixed-asset investment in transportation in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region reached 117.1 billion yuan ($18.08 billion) in the first half of 2021 with a year-on-year increase of 115.6 percent, setting a historical record.

The region has completed 53.2 percent of its annual investment target in transportation in the first six months of this year, which stands at 220 billion yuan.

The investment in expressways in the region from January to June hit 93.98 billion yuan, up 132.5 percent year on year while the investment in shipping increased 258.4 percent year on year to 7.57 billion yuan, and both growth rates ranked first in China.

Guangxi's freight volume in the first six months has achieved leapfrog development. It has finished a total commercial freight volume of 1.02 billion metric tons with a year-on-year increase of 30.9 percent.

A batch of major transportation projects in Guangxi has also achieved remarkable progress in the first half of this year. Expressways including the Liuzhou-Nanning expressway and the Du'an-Bama section of Hezhou-Bama expressway have been put into operation, increasing the total mileage of expressways in operation in the region to over 7,000 kilometers.