Work on the $760m Tu Lien bridge over the Red River in Hanoi will start on 19 May, the birthday of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam Investment Review reports, citing Duong Duc Tuan, vice chair of Hanoi’s People’s Committee.
The bridge will be 2.9km long, with a central span of 1km. It will have six lanes for motorised vehicles and two more for pedestrians.
It will connect the Tay Ho and Dong Anh districts in the northwest of the city. Tay Ho is famous as a residential neighbourhood, favoured by expats including many English teachers. Dong Anh is a largely rural district, set to be developed in Hanoi’s future expansion.
Tu Lien will be one of 18 bridges over the Red River that have been approved in the capital’s masterplan.
Hanoi has completed the construction of eight of these so far, and intends to add another 10 by 2030.
The Vietnamese capital needs the crossings to alleviate congestion and advance its economic development. Hanoi’s GDP is presently growing at a little over 6% a year, but existing infrastructure will have to be upgraded to support that performance in future.
State-funded, not PPP
Vice chair Duong Duc Tuan said the project would be funded by the state, not a public-private partnership as had been proposed initially. This would “streamline administrative procedures and expedite investment preparation and construction”, he said.
The Tu Lien Bridge will be cable-stayed, the second of that type in the city after the Nhat Tan Bridge. The winning design was put forward by local developer Sun Group and San Francisco-based engineer TY Lin International.
The distance between the piers will be 500m. The bridge towers will reach a height of 158m and will be designed to withstand a magnitude eight earthquake.
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