BEIJING, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's top economic planner approved 9 fixed-asset investment (FAI) projects with combined investment totaling 68.9 billion yuan (about 9.7 billion U.S. dollars) in August, official data showed Wednesday.

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

China's fixed-asset investment growth remained basically stable in the first eight months of the year, expanding 5.5 percent year on year thanks to robust high-tech investment, earlier data showed.

Investment in high-tech manufacturing surged 12 percent, while investment in high-tech services grew 14.9 percent, 7.6 percentage points faster than the average growth in the service industry.

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

In the first eight months, China's infrastructure investment went up 4.2 percent year on year, quickening 0.4 percentage points from the growth seen in the January-July period.