Skip to main content

Vietnam launches second phase of Spans of Love bridge programme

The second phase of Vietnam’s rural bridge building programme will construct around 4,000 bridges, many of them road bridges, and will start next month Nguyen Van Huyen, director of the Directorate for Roads, said many of the bridges will be suspension type and improve communication for around 5,200 communes in 50 provinces. A report by the English-language news agency VietNamNet quoted Nhuyen saying that priority will be given to 63 impoverished districts, many of them home to ethnic minorities.
July 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The second phase of Vietnam’s rural bridge building programme will construct around 4,000 bridges, many of them road bridges, and will start next month

Nguyen Van Huyen, director of the Directorate for Roads, said many of the bridges will be suspension type and improve communication for around 5,200 communes in 50 provinces.

A report by the English-language news agency VietNamNet quoted Nhuyen saying that priority will be given to 63 impoverished districts, many of them home to ethnic minorities.

In the first phase, 2014-15, the programme built 186 suspension bridges in 28 mountainous provinces in northern, central and Central Highlands areas.

The second phase will run for five years and funding will come from the Nhip cau yeu thuong - Spans of Love - humanitarian programme, launched by the ministry of transport in April 2014.

In the Spans of Love programme, individuals and businesses are being urged to help achieve the government’s target of thousands of new bridges in poor and mountainous regions to accelerate economic development and improve the living conditions of impoverished communities.

The World Bank is also planning to lend US$385 million towards the programme, he said.

Related Content

  • Simple road safety measures save lives
    February 15, 2012
    Elementary road safety measures quickly pay back the costs of investment and, more importantly, help save lives as Patrick Smith reports. More than 300 people in the UK are alive today or have avoided the prospect of a lifetime of special care because just 15 roads have had simple improvements put in place.
  • Road savvy WIM prolongs highways and saves nations vital cash
    May 28, 2013
    A leading WIM system manufacturer is playing a key role in efforts to reduce the number of overloaded trucks costing developing economies around the world billions of dollars in accidents and damage to roads, while another company has won a major contract in South America. Guy Woodford reports. The prevalence of overloaded trucks on the road networks of developing countries and the accidents and structural damage they cause wastes valuable, limited resources in some of the world’s poorest economies, diverti
  • A history lesson in private public partnerships
    April 12, 2012
    Michel Démarre gives some historical insights into public-private partnerships conceived to implement urban infrastructure projects, a concept that surprisingly dates back to as early as the 13th century! All over the world today, the role of public authorities in the process of planning and, in most cases, designing, financing and procuring urban roads is paramount. Even for modifications to existing roads, decisions are made by these public authorities (usually after due consultation with the population)
  • Poland announces €534 million Bridges for Regions programme
    May 30, 2018
    A bridge on the San River near Jarosław will be the first of 22 to be constructed under the Polish government’s Bridges for Regions programme. Central government will fund around 80% or the programme that is expected to cost about €534 million, said Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister. The rest will be contributed by local governments, with some of the money coming from a local roads fund to be set up in the autumn. The fund will also provide financing for the modernisation of existing bridge crossings,