My Loi Bridge connecting southern Long An and Tien Giang provinces will be opened tomorrow after 20 months of construction work. — Photo news.zing.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The My Loi bridge linking the two southern provinces of Long An and Tien Giang, which opens to traffic tomorrow (Saturday), will reduce the distance to the latter province from HCM City to 25km, or just a fourth of the current distance.

The 2.6km bridge over the Vam Co River, which links national highway No 50 in Can Duoc district, Long An, and Go Cong town in Tien Giang, cost VND1.4 trillion (US$61.2 million) to build under the build-operation-transfer model.

It has a width of 12m and two lanes for cars and motorbikes and two for bicycles.

Until the bridge was built, residents of Go Cong were forced to take National Highway No 1 or the HCM City - Trung Luong Expressway to HCM City, a distance of 100km, if they wanted to travel by road, or take the My Loi ferry.

According the Ministry of Transport's Management Project Unit No 7, which oversaw the bridge construction, National Highway No 50 has a very important role in transportation between HCM City and the Mekong Delta.

It has been upgraded to ease the burden on National Highway No 1, it said.

But the Vam Co River acted as a barrier to transportation and, thus, the region's socio-economic development, it said.

Therefore, the new bridge is necessary to fully utilise National Highway No 50 and create favourable conditions for socio-economic development and ensure national security in the coastal areas of the delta and HCM City, it added. — VNS