The third Mekong Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, linking the central Lao province of Khammuan to Nakhon Phanom province in Thailand is on track for completion five months ahead of schedule. Project Deputy Head Mr. Nongsavan Thammavong said on Friday that work on the bridge, which began in May 2009, was running very smoothly and was now nearly 33 percent. On the Lao side of the river electricity poles are being removed along Road No. 13 South to make way for the access road and land is being prepared for the construction of a new immigration building. On the Thai side, the foundations are being laid for a new immigration office. Thailand has invested more than 1.7 billion baht in the construction of the bridge. In Laos, the bridge is located near Veuntai village in Thakhek district, 13 Km from the district centre. In Thailand, the bridge will be located in Nakhon Phanom district’s Hom village. The project contractor is the Italian-Thai Development Limited Company. The bridge will be built with pre-stressed concrete box girders 13 metres in width. There will be two lanes for traffic, each 3.5 metres wide, and two footpaths, each 1.05 metres wide. It will build in the same style as the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge linking Vientiane with Nong Khai province, Thailand, but will not have any railway track.
Source: Vientiane Times
