Several infrastructure projects in the southern region are set for completion this year and work has been expedited on construction sites to ensure they adhere to the schedule.

The Transport Ministry plans to inaugurate the Rach Mieu Bridge that connects Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces on January 19.

The Rach Mieu Bridge that connects Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces is set to open on January 19

The VND1.4 trillion (US$80 million) suspension bridge, which has been under construction since 2002, is the country’s first Vietnamese-designed and built cable bridge crossing the Tien River. It measures 2.9 kilometers in length and 12 meters in width.

The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project was financed to the tune of 58 percent by the government budget and the remaining 42 percent was invested by the Transport Ministry’s Civil Construction Engineering Corporation (Cienco) No.1, Cienco No. 5 and Cienco No. 6.

Under the BOT model, ownership of an asset reverts to the government after a set period of time.

In Ho Chi Minh City, the project to widen the Cong Ly Bridge that connects Phu Nhuan District’s Nguyen Van Troi Street and District 3’s Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, is expected to be completed by the year-end.

The project includes construction of a 30-meter wide bridge and installation of underground cables for power, telephone and information lines. The contractor will complete paving the surface and sidewalks and planting trees by the second quarter.

Several important bridges on the East-West Highway project are also scheduled for completion in 2009.

The new Khanh Hoi Bridge will connect District 4’s Nguyen Tat Thanh Street with District 1’s Ton Duc Thang Street, instead of Ho Tung Mau Street as it did earlier.

The new Calmette overpass includes an intersection of six streets at its center. Two major sections from District 1’s Calmette Street and District 4’s Hoang Dieu Street are scheduled to be completed before the Tet holidays, while the remaining sections connecting to the East-West

Highway and Thu Thiem underground tunnel will be completed by the year-end.

Construction of the Phu My Bridge connecting District 2 and District 7 is expected to be completed in September. The 2,031- meter bridge crossing the Saigon River will be the city’s longest, with an estimated traffic flow of around 100,000 vehicles daily. The bridge has a clearance of 45 meters for waterway traffic, allowing vessels of up to 30,000 tons to reach the city’s ports.

The Nguyen Van Cu Bridge that connects District 1, District 4, District 5 and District 8 over Ben Nghe Canal will be completed by the first quarter of the year, says Director of the municipal Transport Department’s urban traffic management division No. 1, Le Quyet Thang. The bridge section connecting District 4 and District 8 is scheduled to complete soon after the Tet holidays.

The bridge will ease traffic congestion on the Nguyen Tri Phuong, Y and Cha Va bridges, he said.

Eighty percent of the construction of the HCMC–Trung Luong Highway, which runs through Long An and Tien Giang provinces, has been completed. The highway will open to traffic in mid-2009 on the Tan Tao-Cho Dem-Trung Luong section. The remaining sections that connect Binh Thuan Street to Cho Dem in HCMC will be completed by the year-end.

The 62-kilometer highway will allow speed limits of up to 120 kilometer per hour (kph) on one 40- kilometer stretch and up to 80 kph on the remaining part.

This highway is the first one in southern provinces that has been designed and constructed by local engineers.