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“The new bridges will make our rice and fish more valuable”
Two new suspension bridges, at Can Tho and Ham Luong, have just been open to traffic. The construction of the Vam Cong bridge will begin in a few days. For the first time, a modern highway network is connecting Vietnam’s far south to the rest of the nation.
Dr Nguyen Van Sanh, Acting Director of the Mekong Delta Development Research Institute (MDI), told Tuoi Tre that every year, the Mekong Delta provides 50 percent of Vietnam’s rice crop and 90 percent of ít rice exports, more than 70 percent of Vietnam’s fruit and 50 percent of its fish and shellfish. Until now, however, these assets have remained underexploited due to an inadequate land transport infrastructure. Since 2002, the Government has been determined to develop good road links between the Delta and HCM City and beyond.
Tuoi Tre: Experts say development of the Mekong Delta economy has lagged because it has not been efficiently connected to the rest of the nation. . . .
Dr. Nguyen Van Sanh: That’s true. There are three types of transport in Mekong Delta. The water transport infrastructure is relatively good. We have 37 navigable rivers and canals, with a total length of 28,000 kilometres. There’s air service to Can Tho Airport. However, land transport has been underdeveloped; to date, we have 5200 kilometres of highways and secondary roads. For many years, the provinces of the Mekong Delta have been poorly connected with each other and with the rest of the country.
Farmers in Mekong Delta produce rice, fruit, shrimp and fish, but their products cannot serve distant markets because transport fees have historically been high. Though they are only 160 kilometres away from our rich catfish and shrimp farms, but the people of Saigon rarely have the opportunities to taste the seafood specialities of the region. Meanwhile, farmers of Mekong delta have found it difficult to access the services of enterprises in HCM City.
Tuoi Tre: The Can Tho bridge has been put into operation. What will it bring to Can Tho City and the lower Delta in general?
Sanh: As road transport develops, it will help attract more investment into the region, thus helping development of science and technology, education and many other fields. Let me cite an example: Since September 2009, when the construction of Can Tho Bridge began ‘sprinting,’ land prices in Can Tho begain increasing. In one project area, My Hung in south Can Tho, they increased by 200,000 dong per square metre.
Tuoi Tre: Together with the Can Tho Bridge and the Ham Luong Bridge just opened near Ben Tre, we have the HCM City-Trung Luong Expressway, and, not too far in the future, the HCM City-Can Tho Expressway. Is that enough to help the Delta economy?
Sanh: The Can Tho bridge will be an important impetus for the development of Mekong Delta. The time needed to travel from HCM City to Can Tho will be shortened by one to three hours. Suppose that 35,000 people use the Can Tho Bridge daily, and no longer have to to cross the river by ferry: that’s a savings of 70,000 hours each day. If we consider that the value of an hour of work is 10,000 dong, then we can save 700 million dong a day, 21 billion dong a month and 250 billion dong (Nearly $14 million) a year.
Can Tho bridge and the improved road transport system will help reduce the production cost of our farm and seafood produce, and because they will be fresher when they reach markets, increase their value.
Tuoi Tre: Do you mean that Delta farmers will get big benefits from the transport works?
Sanh: Yes, absolutely. First of all, their income will increase because they can purchase input materials at lower prices, while they can sell their products (Rice, fish) at higher prices. Secondly, they will pay less for the products made by enterprises in big cities.
vietnamnet, tuoi tre
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