Beijing registered 37.99 billion yuan (US$4.74 billion) in fixed assets investment in the first quarter this year, up 17.5 percent over last year's same period, according to the local statistics bureau.

 

The increase rate is 8.9 percentage points higher than the rate for the corresponding period of last year, figures from Beijing Municipal Statistics Bureau show.

 

The construction of more residences and the campaign of building new countryside contributed significantly to the growth in fixed assets investment.

 

Fixed assets investment totaled 2.34 billion yuan in rural Beijing in the three months, up 36.8 percent year on year, while the investment volume reached 35.65 billion yuan in urban area, a rise of 16.4 percent year on year.

 

The bureau's figures also show that 21.63 billion yuan of the total investment in urban area went to real estate sector, up 13.1 percent over last year's same period.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 9, 2006)