China stepped up investment in roads and other transport infrastructure in rural areas in the first half of this year as part of the efforts to vitalize the countryside.

The country had completed fixed-asset investment worth 183.65 billion yuan (about 27.24 billion U.S. dollars) in rural roads in the January-June period, up 15.9 percent over one year ago, Gu Zhifeng, an official with the Ministry of Transport, told a press conference on Thursday.

Some 60,000 km of rural roads and 3,283 unsafe bridges had been reconstructed during the period, up 17.7 percent and 9.2 percent year on year respectively.

The reconstruction projects on rural roads had created some 49,000 temporary jobs for the rural population via work relief schemes in the first half of this year, according to Gu.

More rural people will benefit from such work relief projects as the country plans to rebuild 150,000 km of rural roads and 8,000 unsafe bridges in rural areas this year.