The final spans of the Rach Chiec Bridge No 2  were laid in place yesterday. — Photo thesaigontimes.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The final spans of the Rach Chiec Bridge No 2 on the Eastern Beltway in HCM City's District 9 were laid in place yesterday.

The bridge is 540.9 metres long and 19 metres wide and has four lanes.

Construction is scheduled to complete soon, and the bridge will be opened to traffic in late December though its officially opening scheduled for Tet (the Lunar New Year) next February.

The new bridge completes the Eastern Beltway, connecting the Hi-tech Park in District 9 with Cat Lai Port and Phu My Bridge in District 2 and Hiep Phuoc Port in Nha Be District. In fact, it will almost halve the distance from the park to Cat Lai Port to 8km.

Rach Chiec Bridge No 1 is located on the Ha Noi Highway near the toll booth. — File Photo

It will also improve ease of transport in HCM City by reducing the traffic flowing into the downtown area.

The city's Urban Transport Management Division (under the Department of Transport) is building the bridge at a cost of VND871.2 billion (US$ 38.7 million).

The contractor is a consortium consisting of Thang Long Construction Corporation, Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No 1 (CIENCO 1) and Thang Long Meco.

Rach Chiec Bridge No 1 is located on the Ha Noi Highway near the toll booth. — VNS