BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, approved 12 fixed-asset investment projects with the combined investment totaling 70.5 billion yuan (about 10 billion U.S. dollars) in July, data showed.

The projects were mainly in energy and transportation industries, according to Meng Wei, spokeswoman for the National Development and Reform Commission.

China's fixed-asset investment growth remained basically stable in the first seven months of the year, expanding 5.7 percent year on year thanks to robust high-tech investment, earlier data showed.

Investment in high-tech manufacturing surged 11.1 percent, 5.4 percentage points faster than total investment growth, while investment in high-tech services grew 11.9 percent, 6.2 percentage points faster than the average growth.

Fixed-asset investment includes spending in infrastructure, property, machinery and other physical assets.