Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Ha Noi, May 1 (VNA) -- Vietnamese residents whose homes are located near National Highway 1A in Ho Chi Minh City or Highway 22A in Tay Ninh province are looking forward to seeing the completion of the Trans-Asia highway which links HCM City with Phnom Penh.

The highway, part of a subregional co-operation programme initiated by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), will boost trade between Cambodia and Viet Nam and thereby benefit residents who live along these highways.

However, only 20 per cent of construction work for the project has been completed so far, 15 months after its groundbreaking ceremony. The highway is scheduled to be completed in December of next year, after three yearsE construction.

"The highway marks the promotion of friendly and co-operative relations between the governments and peoples of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, and between Viet Nam and Cambodia in particular," said Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung during the groundbreaking ceremony for the highway project, held in mid-November of 1999.

The 80-km Viet Nam section of the Phnom Penh-Ho Chi Minh City Highway covers a stretch of National Highway 1A running from Ho Chi Minh CityEs Thu Duc Intersection (in the cityEs Thu Duc district) to An Suong Intersection (in the cityEs Binh Chanh district), and a stretch of National Highway 22A from An Suong to the Moc Bai Border Gate in Tay Ninh province.

Work on the project, which requires an investment of USD 144.77 million, including USD 100 million funded by a loan from the ADB, is comprised of three contract packages.

Once complete, the highway will serve as an economic corridor linking Thi Vai deep-water seaport (in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province), via Sai Gon Port (in Ho Chi Minh City), to the Moc Bai Border Gate to Cambodia and, in the future, to other Asian countries.

The highway will pave the way for friendly relations and economic links between the countries of the region, thus creating favourable conditions for Viet NamEs integration into the regional and global communities, according to Minister of Transport, Le Ngoc Hoan.

When the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) initiative was born in 1992, the ADB brought together the governments of Cambodia, Viet Nam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar, along with ChinaEs Yunnan province, and together they conceived a scheme to unite the subregion through investment in economic infrastructure.

The Vietnamese Government has earmarked loans from domestic and international institutions for highway projects, and the Bangkok-Phnom Penh-HCM City Highway has been given the number one priority for the loans, said Deputy PM Dung.

ADB also pledged loans of more than USD 40 million for the 170km-long Cambodia section of the road, on which construction began in late 1999.

As the international bidding process saved about 30 per cent of the initial proposed cost of the Viet Nam section of Ho Chi Minh City-Phnom Penh Highway project, the Ministry of Transport plans to use the surplus capital to finance the construction of eight bridges on National Highways 1A and 22A, in conjunction with upgrades on the intersections where the bridges are to be located.

The Binh Phuoc cross-roads, where National Highway 1A crosses Highway 13, will be the location for two parallel 120m bridges, to be built at a projected cost of VND 100.4 billion. A 40m bridge at the Linh Xuan Cross-roads where National Highway 1A meets Highway 1K will carry a price tag of VND 50.4 billion.

Four bridges, three of them pedestrian bridges, will be built at the crossover points between National Highway 1A and Highway 52. This part of the programme will cost an estimated VND 42.5 billion.

Construction of an 80-metre bridge at the crossover point between Highway 22A and Provincial Road 8 in Cu Chi district will be carried out in conjunction with the upgrade and enlargement of the 27.4-km stretch of the Highway 22A from Cu Chi to Go Dau. The combined cost of these two ventures is expected to come to VND 57.8 billion.--VNS/VNA