SHANGHAI, Nov 5: China is considering a plan to invest five trillion yuan ($730 billion) in the transport sector in the next three to five years, state media reported on Wednesday.

The investments would include roads, waterways and ports, drastically boosting previous plans for investment, the China Business News reported, citing an unnamed source.

The plan partly overlaps with a previously announced proposal to spend about two trillion yuan in the sector between 2006 and 2020, the report said.

“The additional funds would be able to boost domestic demand swiftly,” the source was quoted as saying.

China is ramping up construction to stimulate the domestic economy and create jobs amid a slowdown in overall economic growth.

The global financial woes were instrumental in slowing growth in the world’s fourth-largest nation to nine per cent in the third quarter, the lowest in around five years.

Last month, the State Council, or cabinet, approved a plan to spend two trillion yuan on construction of new railways by 2020. About 1.2 trillion yuan had already been allocated, state media reported. —AFP