Beijing invested 101.2 billion yuan (US$13.3 billion) in fixed-assets in the first five months of this year, a growth of 15.3 percent year-on-year, according to local statistical bureau.

The growth was 1.5 percentage points lower than the January-April level, the bureau said.

Of the total investment, 26.9 billion yuan went to urban infrastructure construction projects, up 25.9 percent. But the growth was 21.4 percentage points lower than the Jaunary-April level.

The big-margin slowdown was attributable to the high comparative base in the January-May period of last year, when work began on the inter-city rail transit project for Beijing and its neighbor Tianjin, the bureau said.

The total investment also included 53.3 billion yuan pumped into real estate development projects, up 10.8 percent. The growth was 0.8 percentage points lower than the January-April period, the bureau added.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)