BEIJING -- China will invest steadily in transport development in 2018, flat with this year, Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng said Monday.

In 2017, fixed asset investment in railways and highways was targeted to reach 800 billion yuan (about $122 billion) and 1.65 trillion yuan.

Citing the main transport target for next year, Li said around 5,000 km of highways would be built and put into use.

Besides, the country will renovate about 200,000 km of roads in rural areas and increase over 600 km of inland waterways.

China will continue to support the construction of roads in poor regions, so as to ensure these areas are connected by highways by 2020.

Over the past five years, China has made remarkable progress in transport development with total mileage of roads increasing by 534,000 km and railways in operation by 27,000 km.

In particular, over 7 billion trips have been made through high speed railways in the 2012-2017 period.

In the following three years, transport will play a bigger role in eradicating poverty and achieving greener, safer development, according to Li.