The Duong Bridge construction project was approved by the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) in 2022, with a total investment of more than VND1,800 billion. The project consists of two main components including a railway bridge and a road bridge across the Duong River.
These two bridges are built in parallel, about 100m apart. In which, the railway bridge is located upstream (right of the old Duong bridge), while the road bridge is located downstream (left of the old Duong bridge), in the North - South direction.
Mr. Mai Xuan Tan, Project Management Director of the Duong River Waterway Upgrade Project (New Duong Bridge Construction Project), Railway Project Management Board - Ministry of Construction said that the project started in July 2024. Up to now, the upstream railway bridge construction component is being implemented on schedule.
Meanwhile, at the road bridge project, the contractor is currently constructing piers T4 and T5 located in the middle of the riverbed (not affecting the above-ground ground). It is expected that by the end of the second quarter of 2025, these items will be basically completed.
However, up to now, the contractor has not yet handed over more than 49 hectares of land to implement the overall project. This has caused the contractor to not be able to construct the overpass and approach roads at both ends of Long Bien and Gia Lam.
"The road bridge across the Duong River does not have land for the construction of approach bridges and approach roads, especially the pillars as symmetrical to pillars T4 and T5, so it is impossible to deploy the canopy casting, so from July 2025, the project must stop construction - Mr. Tan said.
According to the Railway Project Management Board, up to now, the People's Committees of Long Bien and Gia Lam districts have only handed over a small part of the site, about 4,000m2 (mainly public land, flower gardens, and trees). Most of the remaining land with more than 49 hectares has not yet been cleared.
Previously, according to the plan agreed by Hanoi City and the Ministry of Construction, in the first quarter of 2024, localities must complete the handover of land. However, by the end of the first quarter of 2025, the site has not been handed over on schedule as committed.
Facing this situation, the Ministry of Construction held a meeting with the leader of the Hanoi People's Committee. At the meeting, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Duong Duc Tuan requested Long Bien District and Gia Lam District to accelerate the progress, complete the procedures, including the construction of the resettlement area to relocate the affected households, ensuring the handover of the entire ground in May 525.
However, according to Mr. Tan, this requirement is very difficult to implement because up to now, the arrangement of resettlement areas for more than 140 households has not been completed by the two localities.
Based on the site clearance plan provided by the People's Committees of Long Bien and Gia Lam districts, the expected completion time is the fourth quarter of 2025. Therefore, the Railway Project Management Board assessed that the project could not be completed on schedule in 2025 and the implementation deadline must certainly be adjusted.
The leaders of the People's Committees of the two localities said that the project has a very large volume of land acquisition, especially in the access road and overpass section, related to the relocation of more than 140 households. Therefore, arranging housing funds and building resettlement areas requires more time.
Currently, the People's Committees of Long Bien and Gia Lam districts are coordinating with relevant units to review procedures and issue necessary decisions to speed up site clearance, and promptly hand over the entire remaining land to the project.
Some images of the project to build a road bridge across the Duong River:
