Fire engulfs wood workshop, causing vast loss

A fire broke out early on Wednesday at a timber workshop in a crowded residential area in Lâm Đồng Province’s Thạnh Mỹ township, destroying all the wooden products inside.

Locals tried to extinguish the fire but failed due to presence of flammable wooden products. The province’s Fire Prevention and Fighting Force mobilised three fire fighting trucks to prevent the blaze from spreading to the residential area.

The fire was finally put out two hours later. All the machines and wooden products inside the workshop were completely burnt. Property damage was estimated at VNĐ500 billion (US$22,000).

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

VFF HCM City chapter, Beijing committee boost ties

Visiting Chairman of the Beijing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Ji Lin expressed wish to increase exchanges and close liaison with the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) during a working session with its Chairwoman To Thi Bich Chau on March 28. 

Ji said the Beijing committee wants to share experience in advising the Party and State on social issues and linking walks of life with local authorities to deal with issues regarding urban transport, environmental protection and urban landscape. 

Apart from socio-cultural ties, Ji added that the committee wishes for joint work with the Ho Chi Minh City chapter of the VFF to encourage the two countries’ businesses to facilitate bilateral trade and investment, contributing to the respective economic growth.  

Chau, for her part, said both sides see cooperative opportunities and potential during the process of fulfilling assigned tasks and improving their role and function in each country’s political system. 

Host and guest shared experience in mass mobilisation to execute the Party and State’s policies and guidelines, as well as joining social movements to contribute to the national construction and development.  

They agreed to bolster cooperative ties to strengthen friendship between the two cities in particular, and the two nations in general.

Hai Phong greets 1.32 million tourists in Q1

The northern port city of Hai Phong welcomed 1.32 million tourists in the first three months of 2017, a year-on-year rise of 6.17 percent.

Of which, the number of international visitors reached 163,000.

The increase was attributed to the city’s efforts to develop transport infrastructure, especially the Hanoi – Hai Phong expressway, Tan Vu – Lach Huyen highway and bridge, Lach Huyen international gateway port, and Cat Bi international airport.

It was estimated that Cat Bi international airport served 3,900 flights in January – March, a yearly increase of 50.93 percent, including 308 outbound flights to Seoul in the Republic of Korea, Bangkok in Thailand, and Guangzhou in China.

The city is promoting tourism via conferences and workshops while embracing links with provinces and cities in the country and foreign nations as well.

At a recent workshop on Japan’s trade and tourism promotion in Hai Phong, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Le Van Thanh said the city strives to optimize all potential and advantages to achieve new developments as well as apply numerous measures to improve the local business investment environment.

Hai Phong is proximate to many world heritage sites in the northern part of Vietnam such as Thang Long imperial citadel in Hanoi, Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh, and Trang An scenic landscape complex in Ninh Binh.

It is home to popular destinations like Do Son beach, Hon Dau and Cat Ba islands, together with historical and cultural relic sites.

Thua Thien - Hue: 183 women awarded "Heroic Mother" title

Authorities of the central province of Thua Thien - Hue presented the title of "Heroic Vietnamese Mother" to 183 women during a ceremony on March 28.

Among them, only one is still alive and able to receive the title.

With the recognition, the province currently has a total of 2,125 heroic Vietnamese mothers. 

Speaking at the event, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Cao expressed his gratitude towards the heroic mothers, fallen soldiers and their families for their sacrifice to the country’s revolutionary cause.

He also called on local authorities at all levels to continue taking care of heroic Vietnamese mothers and families of martyrs, invalids and those who rendered services for the nation.

Across the country, more than 59,000 women have been awarded with the title.

HCM City helps Laos with library, museum activities

Ho Chi Minh City and the Lao province of Xieng Khouang have agreed to boost friendly ties, firstly in the fields of library, museum and high-tech agriculture. 

During talks with authorities of Xieng Khouang province in Ho Chi Minh City on March 28, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong suggested increasing visits and facilitating cooperation between departments, agencies and businesses, particularly in infrastructure, agriculture, tourism and trade. 

Ho Chi Minh City is ready to share experience with Xieng Khouang in developing hi-quality animal husbandry models, he stated. 

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Governor of Xieng Khouang Somkot Mangnomek, for his part, spoke highly of effective support that Ho Chi Minh City has provided for Xieng Khouang in many areas over the past years. 

In the near future, Ho Chi Minh City will assist Xieng Khouang in personnel training, museum activities and high-tech agriculture. 

Host and guest pledged to further enhance bilateral friendship and cooperation, including the exchange of delegations, contributing to tightening the traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the localities. 

Following the talks, they witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in library and museum field between the municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the provincial Department of Information, Culture and Tourism.  

Accordingly, the city will help Xieng Khouang with museum management activities, display of cultural items and artifacts featuring the history of ties between Vietnam and Laos, and between the two localities in particular.

Vietnam cultural night livens up Sejong University

A Vietnam cultural evening took place at Sejong University in the Republic of Korea on March 27, entertaining participants with musical performances and tasty food.

The event aimed to mark the 10th founding anniversary of the Vietnamese student association’s chapter at the university and the 25-year ties between Vietnam and the RoK.

Le Huy Viet, head of the student body at Sejong, said the number of Vietnamese students at Sejong University now amounts to 187, the second largest compared to other foreign communities at the school.

Addressing the event, first vice rector of Sejong University Kim Seung-Eok praised the learning and research ability of Vietnamese students, saying he believed they would succeed in life and contribute significantly to society.

Nguyen Dinh Dung, First Secretary at the Vietnam Embassy in the RoK, took note of achievements in learning and research of the student chapter at Sejong University, saying the group has actively engaged in activities contributing to their home country.

Attracting the participation of nearly 400 students, the cultural night featured a photo exhibition on Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagoes.

Vietnam, Morocco to exchange scientific information

The Institute for Africa and Middle East Studies (IAMES) under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and the Moroccan Centre for Studies and Research in Social Sciences on March 28 inked a cooperation agreement to promote the exchange of scientific information.

Accordingly, the two sides will share scientific information related to international relations, foreign policy, regional and global security, development of political economy, and international culture.

They will create favourable conditions for the sharing of research results and scientific publications while discussing the possibility of rotationally hosting meetings, workshops and forums, and similar events with the participation of a third party.

Under the terms of the freshly-signed document, mutual visits by their scholars, experts and researchers will also be facilitated.

IAMES Director Assoc. Prof. and Dr. Nguyen Manh Hung considered the agreement as an important step in bilateral cooperation, opening up new prospects for partnership in research, training and policy consultation.

Hanoi to apply national vaccination management system

A national vaccination information management system will be applied at all vaccination facilities in Hanoi from April 1 in a bid to increase vaccination rates for under-one children in the city.

The municipal Department of Health organised training courses on how to use the system to improve effectiveness of vaccination activities in the city before the system is put in operation.  

Hoang Duc Hanh, Deputy Director of Hanoi’s Department of Health, said the deployment of the national vaccination information management system will benefit not only state management agencies but also vaccination establishments and residents.

Hanh added that the health department is piloting a new weekly timetable for vaccinations in Long Bien district instead of two days or two rounds every month as previously. The weekly timetable will be soon applied across the city.

HCM City expands “Proper Care” to eradicate tuberculosis

Ho Chi Minh City is expanding the “Proper Care” programme to some other districts in 2017 in an effort to accelerate the eradication of tuberculosis (TB), said chairman of the city’s Public Health Association Dr. Le Truong Giang.

Giang told participants at a meeting, which was held on March 28 in response to World Tuberculosis Day (March 24), that about 20,000 new TB cases are reported in HCM City each year.

Apart from the “Proper Care” programme, HCM City will also take more measures such as applying new testing techniques to improve TB diagnosis capacity, paying special attention to TB in children to give treatment and curb transmission, and connecting public and private healthcare systems in anti-TB activities, he added.

Director of Go Vap district’s preventive medicine centre Dr. Nguyen Trung Hoa said his centre has piloted the “Proper Care” programme since 2014. This programme aims to increase the detection of TB cases, reduce the abandonment of treatment, raise the success rate of treatment, and improve public awareness of the disease.

After two years, nearly 600,000 people have gained access to the programme with 136,000 of them were screened for TB. A total of 565 new cases were detected.

Notably, the rate of TB patients abandoning treatment has dropped sharply from 7 percent in the past to 0.8 percent at present, Hoa said, adding that the widespread network of advisors who meet and give advice to local residents has become an important link in cutting down the treatment abandonment rate.

HCM City is striving to reduce the numbers of TB patients and deaths to below 131 and 10 in every 100,000 residents by 2020, respectively. It also hopes to control the rate of multidrug-resistant TB patients at below 5 percent of the total new TB cases.

‘No sidewalk’ streets a hard-to-solve issue in Ho Chi Minh City

Multiple streets across Ho Chi Minh City do not have the luxury of sidewalks as local homes were built close to the road, creating immense challenges for pedestrians.

Statistics from the municipal People’s Committee show that about 2,598 streets throughout the city do not include any paved area, many of which are located in central business neighborhoods such as District 1 and District 3.

Houses along these roads were built immediately adjacent to the roadways, leaving no choice for pedestrians other than to walk amongst vehicles.

Some examples of these ‘sidewalk-less’ streets are Huynh Khuong Ninh in District 1, Tran Quang Dieu and Tran Van Dang in District 3, and Huynh Man Dat in District 5. 

Along one section of Duong Quang Ham in Go Vap District, another street with no sidewalk, vendors of a makeshift market place their products on the roadway, posing greater threats to traffic safety.

On those roads that are lucky enough to have a footpath, the pavements are constructed in an inconsistent manner, causing difficulty for walkers as well as compromising urban esthetics.

By contrast, some parts of Nguyen Trong Tuyen Street in Phu Nhuan District have over 1.2 meters of pavement, while public space is completely absent along other sections.

On Hoang Van Thu Street in the same district, some sidewalk sections are over 1.5 meters wide, while others are less than one meter, making it difficult to walk on.

According to Dang Minh Nguyen, chairman of the People’s Committee in Ward 25, Binh Than District, many routes in the neighborhood lack pavements or sufficient sidewalk space.

The situation will only be resolved once future expansion projects are carried out.

A representative from the Urban Management Office in Tan Binh District explained that many streets in the area are too narrow to build a promenade on.     

Given their currently limited width, local authorities can only make sure that there is sufficient space for vehicles to travel on, with footpaths to be constructed once these routes are expanded.

Meanwhile, an official from the municipal Department of Transport said that it would be hard for expansion projects to be executed due to the cost of clearing the space.

Nguyen Thanh Toan, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Planning and Architecture, added that sidewalks cannot be built on some roads because of the lack of available finances.

As a temporary solution, narrow streets can be widened for vehicles during the day and become walking-only streets at night, Toan suggested.

Experts fear construction rush will ‘suffocate’ Danang

Construction overkill on the Son Tra Peninsula, home to the biggest langur population in Vietnam, could be turning the popular central city of Danang into the most suffocating city in Vietnam.

The city's government has announced a plan to develop the eastern part of the peninsula into a resort area, with construction covering around 2,900 hectares, or around half of the peninsula. The plan has been approved by the prime minister.

Hoang Su, former director of the Danang Urban Planning Institute and now deputy head of the construction department in neighboring Quang Nam Province, said Son Tra is a vulnerable and unique treasure, and the construction plan is simply “too much”.

Su said the residential area in Danang is dominated by bricks and cement, with construction covering 22,000 hectares, compared to 61 hectares of trees. 

With a population of one million people, each person in the city has only 0.6 square meters of trees, which is a tenth of national construction standards.

As a modern city with beautiful scenery, Danang is a popular destination, drawing 1.67 million foreign visitors last year, up 31.6% against the previous year.

“However, without the sea, mountains and Son Tra, Danang will become the most suffocating city in Vietnam,” Su said.

He said the prime minister urgently needs to reconsider the development plan for Son Tra before it’s too late.

Experts have raised concerns about the future of Son Tra after images of forests being cleared for construction were posted on social media last week.

Biologist Tran Huu Vy said the "cementization" of Son Tra will destroy the entire ecosystem by dividing jungles and habitats, leading to inbreeding. Animals on the peninsula will also face the risk of traffic if they are unable to travel through the trees.

Light and noise at night will affect the animals’ habits, longevity and reproductive health, Vy said. “We could lose the entire peninsula just by affecting one or two species.”

He said the peninsula is only a 15-minute drive from Danang's center, so it does not need to provide accommodation for tourists.

Vy, director of the GreenViet biodiversity conservation center in Da Nang, has been constantly vocal about the threat posed by construction to the duoc langur population on Son Tra.

Studies by the center found the primate reserve on the peninsula has shrunk from its original area of more than 4,400 hectares to less than 2,600 hectares over the past decade.

In March last year, around 75 endangered red-shanked doucs on the peninsula went missing after a large area of trees was cleared.

Ministry presents photos, films for information campaigns in Japan

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on March 29 presented 180 photos and 70 films featuring Vietnam to the Vietnam Embassy in Japan in service of national events and information campaigns.

The photos and films are categorised into seven themes, namely Development and Integration progress, Traditional Trade Villages, Festivals, Cuisine, World Intangible Cultural Heritages, Sea and Islands and Beauty of Vietnam.

They are part of a photo exhibition and a film screening themed “Discover Vietnam 2017”, which are included in the MIC’s major external information-focused activities and the Vietnamese government’s events to celebrate the 44th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties, said Minister Truong Minh Tuan.

The minister also expressed his hope that through the events, Vietnam and Japan will continue working to lift their bilateral ties to the next level for both sides’ development and prosperity.

Books for kids at Can Tho book festival

The 2nd Can Tho Book Festival, which has opened at Luu Huu Phuoc Park in Ninh Kieu district, features a large collection of children’s books.

Organised by the city’s Department of Information and Communication, the event features 195,000 titles, including hundreds of titles for children and teenagers, sold at discounts of up to 40 percent at 300 stalls.

The week-long event has attracted more than a hundred international and Vietnamese publishers, distributors and other companies. 

Seven foreign publishers, such as Penguin, Cambridge and Oxford, are also featured.  

Among the popular titles on display are children’s books by the Kim Dong Publishing House, one of the country’s leading publishers for children.

Three of Kim Dong’s best-selling titles, Hoang Mai Quyen’s Bup Be Co Don (Lonely Doll), Tran Tung Chinh’s Trai Mua Xuan (Spring Camp) and Mai Buu Minh’s Chien Cong Sieu Pham (Supernatural Powers), have been reprinted.  

The books feature the lives of children from the Mekong River Delta region. 

Quyen’s Bup Be Co Don is a collection of 13 short stories about the lives and first loves of rural teenagers. 

While Chinh’s Trai Mua Xuan includes stories about a young teacher and his secondary school students, Minh’s Chien Cong Sieu Pham features a group of boys and girls who discover the world in different ways.

The three writers will sign their books for readers on March 30. 

The HCM City Book Distribution Company took part in the festival for the first time, displaying 26,000 copies by veteran authors at 20 stalls.  

The company has invited cultural researchers and authors to take part in seminars and forums about reading, and opened a space to display 1,000 copies of books on President Ho Chi Minh.

More than 150 photographs capturing the Mekong Delta region and Can Tho in the past and today are also displayed.

“We hope our event will attract more than 40,000 visitors,” said Le Van Tam, deputy head of the festival’s organising board.

Many books will be given away for free on March 31, the last day of the event.

Gia Lai works to develop tourism based on cultural resources

The Central Highlands province of Gia Lai has taken measures to develop sustainable tourism, focusing on cultural resources of the local ethnic minority groups of J’rai and Bahnar.

Covering an area of over 15,500 km2, Gia Lai is home to 1.4 million people. The ethnic minority groups account for 46 percent of the locality’s population, including 30 percent of J’rai and 13 percent of Bahnar.

The two ethnic groups possess intangible and tangible cultural heritages which are in the national culture list. Particularly, the Space of the Gong Culture was recognised by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage of humanity. As many as 6,000 sets of gong, including ancient and rare ones, have been preserved by both ethnic communities.

In addition, the province also boasts 17 cultural – historical relics which reflect the inception, development, and revolutionary history of the locality, namely Ploi Oi relic, Stor resistance village, Bang Keng Temple Relic, among others.

In 2014, local authorities discovered a number of ancient stone relics in An Khe region with valuable antiques, naming An Khe on the regional and global map of ancient stone era.

Nguyen Thi Kim Van, Director of Gia Lai Museum, said it is possible to operate cultural heritage tours for domestic and foreign visitors based on the local culture resources.

The locality will also launch tours exploring jungles of Kon Ka King and Kon Jrang or tours of volcano vestiges, she added.

ICT Training for visually impaired launched

Microsoft Việt Nam and the Audio Books Charity Fund for the Blind launched a year-long ICT Training programme for the visually impaired in HCM City on March 25.

The US$170,000 program will organise three month courses with each having seven to ten students who will enjoy a total of 144 training hours. It will be run by 10 lecturers with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Students will receive training in computer use and job-search assistance.

The programme sponsors are Tân Nam Đô Trading and Service Co. Ltd and the Việt Nam Foundation. They have donated 30 computers to the Audio Books Charity Fund and 77 “360 Computers” designed for the visually impaired.

The Audio Books Charity Fund, which has been operating since 1998, has recorded 1,684 books and produced 385,037 free cassettes and audio books for 99 blind associations and schools for the blind and visually impaired.

Besides audio books, the charity fund has five other programmes that serve entertainment and study purposes for the blind and visually impaired.

New system to evaluate patients’ satisfaction in HCM City

“If you are not satisfied with the hospital’s service, please press here!”

This sentence will soon appear on screens at outpatient departments across all of HCM City’s public hospitals.

The new system, implemented by the city’s Department of Health, hopes to encourage patients to voice their dissatisfaction with hospitals in order to improve the quality of care.

Through the new computer-based system, patients will be able to access an e-survey which covers questions on 15 kinds of services in hospitals, such as: registration for health checks, registration to use health insurance, payment of hospital fees, treatment of caregivers, attitude and communication of hospital staff, quality of toilets, quality of vehicle parking service, etc.

The online system will be connected to hospital management as well as the city’s Department of Health, and they will be able to view the answers submitted. A weekly report will also be sent to the municipal health department to supervise hospitals in improving health care service quality.

As scheduled, the first system will be implemented at the HCM City’s Pediatrics Hospital 1 on Friday.

Products from endangered pangolins have no medical benefits: doctors

The traditional use of pangolin scales to treat blocked milk ducts is touted by a number of websites online, but doctors of traditional medicine say scientific research proves that it is ineffective.

In the past, scales from pangolins, the world’s most trafficked wild mammal, were used in Việt Nam for medical treatment, but there is no evidence to support it, said Dr Nguyễn Thị Bay, former head of HCM City University of Medicine and Pharmacy’s Traditional Medicine Faculty.

Bay spoke at a workshop on the medical value of pangolin scales held on Saturday in the city.

Students of traditional medicine at Vietnamese universities are now taught that pangolin scales are ineffective and that bồ công anh (scientific name of Lactuca indica), and Indian camphorweed should be used instead.

Dr Lê Thị Thu Hà, head of the Từ Dũ Obstetrics Hospital’s Postnatal Department, said that mothers with blocked milk ducts should let their baby nurse on the breast with the blocked duct as the child’s sucking can help dislodge the blockage.

"Mothers can also use a breast pump or hand express the milk, and use heating pads to ease the pain and discomfort caused by blocked ducts. Massage also helps," Hà said.

Dr Lê Hùng, chairman of HCM City Traditional Medicine and Acupuncture Hospital, said that advertisements often falsely claimed that pangolin scales can treat cancer and diabetes in addition to improving male energy and vitality.

In the past decade, one million pangolins were hunted and sold worldwide, leading to a decline in pangolin population, according to the workshop’s organisers - the Center of Hands-on Action and Networking for Growth and Environment (CHANGE), in co-operation with WildAid, a US environmental organisation.

Việt Nam and China lead the global demand for pangolins, they reported.

The Asian pangolin population plummeted by 80 per cent in just 21 years.

Pangolins, the only mammal with skin covered in scales, eats 70 millions insects every year.

It does not thrive in captivity and produces one offspring at a time.

In the world, eight species of pangolin are on the edge of extinction.

Việt Nam’s two species, the Chinese and Sunda pangolin, are critically endangered.

Last July, the Government raised the penalty for illegal hunting and trading in pangolin to 15 years in prison.

Government agencies in recent years have strengthened their inspections and seized trafficked pangolins.

In the past 10 years, the country’s authorities seized 54.8 tonnes of pangolins and 14.7 tonnes of scales.

The workshop, part of the Save Pangolins campaign begun last year, works to reduce demand for wildlife products.

Strong partnership needed to tackle modern slavery, trafficking

Strong partnership and multi-agency efforts were vital for success in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking, a conference that opened in central Đà Nẵng City heard on Wednesday.

Ideas were discussed at the two-day event for increased collaborative working across borders.

Modern slavery and human trafficking have serious transnational repercussions. They are crimes not restricted by borders, with perpetrators preying on those most vulnerable in societies, experts said at the workshop. Therefore, it required both a domestic and international response.

The conference, organised by the British Embassy, in collaboration with the United Nations Action for Co-operation Against Trafficking in Persons (UN-ACT), explored opportunities to further enhance co-operation between the United Kingdom and Việt Nam in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking.

It was attended by nearly 100 delegates from relevant UK and Vietnamese ministries and governmental agencies, intergovernmental organisations, foreign diplomatic missions and non-governmental organisations.

David Pennant, UK Home Office senior responsible officer for Việt Nam, said the conference brought together modern slavery and human trafficking experts from the United Kingdom to promote the definition of modern slavery, introduce the United Kingdom’s world-leading Modern Slavery Act 2015 and share the United Kingdom’s expertise and best practices in identifying, investigating and disrupting acts of modern slavery.

Modern slavery is a crime that ranks among the worst forms of human rights abuse, depriving victims of the most basic fundamental rights and freedoms to which everyone is entitled. Victims could be trafficked for spare parts – organs extracted for their purchaser. Further, children were abducted from their families, made to suffer sexual abuse and robbed of any chance of a normal childhood, he said.

Pennant said modern slavery was a global phenomenon that knew no geographical boundaries, crossing not just borders but also spread through the internet. Therefore, a radical domestic and international approach was needed to target every aspect of this despicable trade and strip slave drivers of the profit they made out of human suffering by putting them behind bars, he said.

“We are already working closely with the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs of Việt Nam. I highly appreciate the efforts of our counterparts, over the years, to battle the crime, prosecute offenders and support human trafficking victims, helping them reintegrate into the community,” he said.

The UK government welcomed the opportunity to work with the Vietnamese side, international organisations and NGOs to eradicate this most despicable crime in all its forms, Pennan said.

The five countries believed to have the highest number of victims of modern slavery are Albania, Nigeria, Romania, Việt Nam and the United Kingdom.

Major Phạm Mai Hiên from the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security said the Vietnamese police discovered more than 2,000 cases of human trafficking from 2011 till date, involving 3,200 subjects who trafficked nearly 4,000 victims.

Human trafficking was conducted in various ways, such as illegal labour export, tourism or on the pretext of visiting relatives abroad when the victims were then sold in the third country, he said.

Key reasons for human trafficking include gender imbalance, lack of low-skill labour forces in countries sharing borders and lack of information, knowledge and skills in victims, Hiên said.

To prevent human trafficking, Việt Nam has issued many related regulations and taken part in an international treaty and other co-operation agreements on the issue, he added.

Expansion of National Highway No 60 begins

The groundbreaking ceremony for upgrading National Highway No 60 from Rạch Miễu Bridge to Cổ Chiên Bridge in the Mekong Delta province of Bến Tre kicked off on Monday.

The total length of the upgrade will be 22.4 km, with a total investment of VNĐ1.75 trillion (US$77 million). Construction will take about 26 months.

The road will be expanded 9 – 21 metres in width in different parts. The road through Châu Thành District, known for its serious traffic jams, will be expanded to 21 metres from the current 11 metres.

The new road will include more than 15 new 12m-wide bridges.

The construction is the second part of an investment project for Rạch Miễu Bridge, which will collect tolls. The first phase for toll collection fees will end by 2021 and the second phase will last another 14 years.

The current fee for use of Rạch Miễu bridge ranges from VNĐ20,000 – 140,000 (US$1–6), depending on the vehicle.

When Cổ Chiên Bridge opened in May 2015, traffic increased significantly on National Highway No 60 and caused serious traffic congestion.

National Highway No 60 links the Mekong Delta provinces of Tiền Giang, Bến Tre, Trà Vinh and Sóc Trăng.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE