BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China's local government special bonds worth about 1.02 trillion yuan (about 144 billion U.S. dollars) had been issued as of March 19, according to a report from the China Securities Journal.

Many of such bonds were used to help finance infrastructure projects including transportation, ecological environment protection and park construction, the report said.

New infrastructure projects such as 5G networks and data centers were also key fields for this year's special local government bonds investment, the report said, citing analysts.

China will expedite the issuance and utilization of local government special bonds and urge solid preparation work for 4,000 new projects scheduled to break ground this year, according to a State Council executive meeting on Tuesday.

As the Ministry of Finance granted more quotas for new issuance, bond sales are set to accelerate to fund projects and spur investments to mitigate economic impacts from the novel coronavirus outbreak.