First sod turned on mammoth bridge project in southern Vietnam Officials are pictured at the December 12, 2015 groundbreaking ceremony for a project to build the Dai Ngai Bridge connecting two provinces Tra Vinh and Soc Trang, which is one of the biggest bridge projects in the Mekong Delta.Tuoi Tre The Ministry of Transport on Saturday kick-started one of the largest bridge projects in the Mekong Delta. The ministry turned the first sod on the construction of the Dai Ngai Bridge, located on National Highway 60 which links Tra Vinh and Soc Trang Provinces, at a total cost of approximately VND5.72 trillion (US$250.9 million). The bridge, to span over Tra Cu District in Tra Vinh and Long Phu District in Soc Trang, will be of momentous importance to the two provinces, the region and the country in general regarding socio-economic growth and security and defense. The bridge will be 15.2 kilometers in length, and have four lanes for traffic. The structure comprises two bridges, Dai Ngai 1 and Dai Ngai 2, both 16 meters wide. The former will be 2.24 kilometers long and stretch over Dinh An Creek, while the latter will be 0.86 kilometers in length over Tran De Stream. The construction work is slated for completion in late 2018. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh asserted that the project will untie the last knot on National Highway 60, facilitate traffic flow and augment the importance of infrastructural, industrial and economic projects across the Mekong Delta. Once the construction of the Dai Ngai Bridge is complete, and the entire National Highway 60 is open to traffic, pressure on National Highway 1 will be notably relieved, he said.   A groundbreaking ceremony for the Chau Doc Bridge, to span over the Hau River in the Mekong Delta, was held on December 12, 2015. Photo: Tuoi Tre The new bridge will also cut travel distance from Ho Chi Minh City to the provinces of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau by 70 kilometers,baochinhphu.vn cited Deputy Prime Minister Minh as saying. In other news, the Ministry of Transport also kicked off a project to construct the Chau Doc Bridge, located in Chau Doc City, An Giang Province, also in the Mekong Delta, on Saturday afternoon. The bridge, to span over the Hau River, one of the tributaries in Vietnam of the Mekong River, will have a projected investment of VND949 billion ($41.5 million). The bridge and its surrounding areas will be 3.26 kilometers in length and 12 meters in width. It will link National Highway 91 in Chau Doc and Provincial Highway 953 in Tan Chau Town. Upon completion, the Chau Doc Bridge will replace Chau Giang Ferry. When building work on National Highway N1, one of the arteries going through Chau Doc City, is finished, travel distance between Ho Chi Minh City and the provinces of Kien Giang, An Giang, Dong Thap and Long An will be reduced, with traffic flow to be made considerably easier as well. Deputy Prime Minister Minh, who also attended the groundbreaking ceremony, said the new bridge will be of great significance to the southwestern border area’s socio-economic growth and facilitate security and national defense activities.     TUOI TRE NEWS