Construction of the Nam Ngum bridge linking Meuangkhao and Pakkhayoung villages in Viengkham district, Vientiane province, is now over 20 percent complete. A truck releases mixed concrete into the first foundation of the Nam Ngum bridge in Viengkham district.
A local investor, the Maliny Group Co Ltd, began the project in January and expects to complete construction by early next year.
“We have to complete it by March,” the company's CEO, Mr Phoutsadou Inthavong, said yesterday.
The developer laid the first of 60 concrete foundations on Monday, as witnessed by provincial officials and representatives of state and private sectors, Mr Phoutsadou said.
The company will invest almost 135 billion kip (US$16.8 million) in the project, and “will own and operate the bridge for 38 years, after which it will belong to the government,” he said.
Mr Phoutsadou said the project's technicians are Lao nationals, while the company also employs constructors from Vietnam, Thailand and Australia.
The bridge will be 274 metres long, 12 metres wide and have street lights, traffic signs and two sidewalks.
The company signed a concession agreement with the government to construct the concrete and steel bridge in July last year.
Once complete, the bridge will play a major role in improving basic infrastructure in the province and boosting the socio-economic development of local communities, who have been waiting for it to be built for many years.
Many companies were interested in constructing the bridge but failed to receive approval from the government.
In June 2009, a local company submitted a proposal to construct the bridge at a total cost of more than 68 billion kip, which the government would have been required to repay over a six to seven year period after construction was completed. However, the proposal was rejected because the government wanted the project to follow the build, operate and transfer model.
