BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- China has made steady progress in its housing renovation plan for rundown urban areas, fulfilling the annual target for 2019 in the first 10 months, official data showed.

Construction began on 3 million homes in shantytowns in the first 10 months, surpassing the annual target by 3.8 percent, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

The government had planned to start renovation on 2.89 million homes in dilapidated urban areas in 2019.

During the January-October period, 1.03 trillion yuan (about 147 billion U.S. dollars) was invested in the renovation projects, according to the ministry.

Shantytown transformation has been a priority for the government in recent years. China aims to renovate 15 million dilapidated homes from 2018 to 2020 to speed up its urbanization drive and improve people's livelihood.