(VOVworld) – Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung announced the start of the Lach Huyen infrastructure construction project, including a 5.4 km cross-sea bridge in Hai Phong port city on Saturday. Once completed the bridge will be the longest bridge of its kind in Vietnam and one of the longest in Southeast Asia. The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport and Japanese contractor consortium have signed a contract to build the bridge – the sixth bidding package of the project. The bridge and expressway project linking Hai Phong’s eastern urban area, Hai Phong international port and the Dinh Vu-Cat Hai industrial park. The project aims to reduce travel costs and time, traffic accidents, and transport risks by ferry, and to stimulate industrial development along the coastal area of Hai Phong, as well as promote tourism on Cat Ba islands.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said:“In the near future, we will have the Hanoi-Hai Phong expressway built. It will not only link to the city, but to Lach Huyen port, and an international airport, which is capable to receive all kinds of planes arriving in Hai Phong. Then we will have deep water port of high capacity, a main gateway to the north. Hai Phong needs to update its planning to become a modern, industrial and service city. It is necessary to focus on human resources development, attract investment and implement projects to take advantage of the city’s potentials for rapid and sustainable development”.

Prime Minister Dung thanked the Japanese government and people for their support for Vietnam’s infrastructure development over the past 20 years.

The Tan Vu-Lach Huyen expressway project has a total investment of nearly 12 trillion VND, with more than 10 trillion VND sourced from Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) capital and the remainder coming from the Vietnamese government.