BEIJING, April 16 -- China reported 320.5 billion yuan (52.28 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed investment in railways, highways and waterways in this year's first quarter, the country's transport ministry said on Thursday.

Xu Chengguang, the ministry's spokesman, said investment rose by 15.2 percent year on year, 3.8 percentage points faster than a year ago. Of the investment, 82.6 billion yuan was in railways, 210.9 billion yuan was in highways and 24.4 billion yuan went toward waterways.

"The growth rate in western regions was higher than other places in China," he said. "This showed a better distribution of investment."

A total of 5.56 billion trips were made and 9.44 billion tonnes of freight were transported via railways, highways and waterways according to the ministry. The number of trips was up 0.9 percent from the previous year, and freight tonnage rose 4.5 percent year on year, the data showed.

The cargo-handling capacity in major ports went up 2.2 percent to 2.71 billion tonnes while containers bound for Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa surged the most, boosted by President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative.

Xu said fixed investment in transportation plays a crucial role in advancing the country's economic development, and the growth rate of investment was set at around 8 percent in the first half of 2015.