Northern Vietnam port city wants second sea-crossing bridge

The northern city of Hai Phong has proposed that it spends VND7 trillion ($312.5 million) from its budget to build the city’s second cross-sea bridge to meet heightened traffic demands.

The proposal was made at an online governmental conference on Monday.

The proposed bridge, Tan Vu – Lach Huyen Bridge 2, named after two major ports at opposite ends, will lighten the heavy traffic being borne by the first bridge, city officials said.

The city’s flourishing tourism sector has seen traffic exerting more pressure on the Tan Vu – Lach Huyen Bridge 1 than it can bear, they said.

Nguyen Van Tung, head of the Hai Phong People’s Committee, also asked the government to provide the city with an additional 220 kV power station on Cat Hai Island and permit construction of another train station near the Cat Bi International Airport for the same reason.

The Tan Vu - Lach Huyen Bridge 1, which links Cat Hai Island and the city’s eastern port of Dinh Vu, opened last September.

The bridge was an important infrastructure project, connecting Hai Phong with other provinces in northern Vietnam, while reducing travel times between the two ends to around ten minutes, compared to several hours by boat.

It is part of a road project built by Cienco4, a construction company under the Ministry of Transport, with an investment of VND11.85 trillion ($522.5 million). The Vietnamese government secured funds from the Japan International Cooperation Agency for the project.

The Tan Vu – Lach Huyen Bridge 1 is currently the longest sea crossing bridge in Vietnam, spanning 5.4 kilometers.