Co Chien Bridge construction kicked start

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung ordered the start of construction of Co Chien Bridge on Monday morning, March 7, 2011. The ceremony took place in the Tra Vinh province side of the future bridge.

The new bridge is to be built at 3.6 km downstream from the current ferry site. It is a BOT project, invested by the Ministry of Transport.

The Co Chien Bridge project is composed of two subprojects, called Subproject 1 and Subproject 2, stretches altogether over 15.758 km in length. Its startivng point is at the crossroad of the National Highway 60 and the beltway around Mo Cay Town in Ben Tre province; its end point is at the junction point into the National Highway 60 at the Dua Do Bridge, Cang Long District, Tra Vinh province.

The Subproject 1, consigned to the Rach Mieu BOT Co., Ltd to act as investor, comprises the main 1,599.2-meters Co Chien Bridge. According to design, this is a cable-stayed bridge with 4 lanes spanning 16 meters in width, maximum car speed up to 80 kilometers per hour.

The Subproject 2, consigned to the Project Management Unit 7 (PMU7) to act as investor, includes the run-up roads and 12 smaller bridges in both sides, Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces, totally 14 kilometers long, with 4 lanes and maximum car speed up to 80 kilometers per hour.

The gross investment fund for the project is estimated at about 3,800 billion Vietnamese dongs.

Once finished construction and put into use, the Co Chien Bridge will play a crucial part in helping economical development in both Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces. The bridge is expected to reduce by around 80 kilometers of the journey from Tra Vinh province to Ho Chi Minh City, to contribute to lessening the increasing traffic pressure on the National Highway 1A. It is also one of the four bridges – the other three are the Rach Mieu and Ham Luong bridges in BenTre province and the Dai Ngai bridge in Tra Vinh province – that make the National Highway fully connected in a strategy to develop the Mekong Delta’s seaside corridor in parallel with the current National Highway.

In his speech at the ceremony, Mr Nguyen Sinh Hung stressed that “the Co Chien Bridge is strategically and politically significant, contributing to the economical development and broadening of cultural exchange between the coastal provinces of the Mekong Delta. Otherwise, this is a hallmark to show the great leap by the transport sector in road and bridge construction. Co Chien is the first bridge that stages of the project, from the site surveillance, designing to construction and management, investment all are undertaken totally by domestic forces – the Vietnamese investor, fund and executing companies.”

Translated by Truong Hung.