BEIJING — China's top economic planner said Thursday that it had approved 56 fixed-asset investment projects with total investment reaching 240.9 billion yuan (about $35.04 billion) in the first three months of this year.

"The projects mainly covered water conservation, energy and transportation sectors," said Yan Pengcheng, spokesperson with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

Water conservation projects took the largest share of the investment, with 99.8 billion yuan going to nine projects, including a flood control project on the Chaohu Lake, the country's fifth largest fresh water lake.

"The NDRC has put more focus on fields such as poverty reduction, agriculture, water conservation and innovation to improve the foundation of sustained economic development," Yan said.

China's fixed-asset investment grew 8.9 percent year-on-year to 4.14 trillion yuan in the first two months the year, up from 8.1 percent in 2016, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.