Many items have taken shape
In July 2023, the Ministry of Transport (now the Ministry of Construction) coordinated with the Hanoi People's Committee to start the Duong River waterway upgrade project. The project includes a railway bridge and a road bridge, replacing the current Duong bridge.
The project has a total investment of VND 1,848.62 billion, of which the cost of site clearance (GPMB) for phase 1 is VND 650.8 billion from the State budget, assigned to the Railway Project Management Board (Ministry of Construction) as the investor.
The road bridge project is 382m long, combined with cable-stayed, 18.5m wide, with a clearance under the bridge of 4.75m. The starting point is at the old Duong bridge intersection on Ngo Gia Tu street (Viet Hung ward), the end point is at the intersection between Ha Huy Tap street and Phan Dang Luu street (Phu Dong commune), about 100m downstream from the old Duong bridge.
The railway bridge and approach road are 1km long according to the existing railway route, about 16.5m upstream from the old Duong bridge, coinciding with the investment location for the construction of Hanoi urban railway line No. 1. The bridge has 6 steel girder spans and a 280m long steel truss, built to ensure a railway with a gauge of 1,000mm and 1,435mm; designed speed of 80km/h.
According to records in mid-September 2025, some project items have taken shape after more than 2 years of construction.
Speaking to Lao Dong Newspaper reporter, Mr. Mai Xuan Tan - Director of the Duong River Waterway Transit Upgrade Project (under the Railway Project Management Board) - said that regarding the construction of the road bridge, the contractor is implementing the T3 and T4 tower items under the river and waiting for the site to be constructed on the shore.
For the railway bridge, the contractor has completed the installation of 2 main girders and temporarily suspended construction from May to the end of October to ensure regulations on the Law on Dikes during the rainy and stormy season. Therefore, the bypass beams will be implemented from November. "The progress of the railway bridge depends on the road bridge. When the road bridge is opened, the railway bridge will be dismantled and moved to the new bridge" - Mr. Tan said.
10 requests for Hanoi to hand over the site soon
According to the leader of the Railway Project Management Board, the Duong River Waterway Transport Upgrade Project has a total land use area for land acquisition and clearance of about 4.96ha/141 households (Viet Hung ward about 3.33ha/55 households; Phu Dong commune about 1.63ha/86 households).
In recent times, the Railway Project Management Board has been very proactive, actively coordinating and working with relevant units to speed up the progress of site clearance. However, up to now, the project has only been handed over the land within the existing railway, public land is the existing Duong Riverbed area and 16/141 households in the dyke safety corridor on the Viet Hung ward side (about 0.4/4.96ha, reaching about 8%); the remaining volume of land clearance is very large (accounting for over 92%), and the relocation of technical infrastructure works has not been carried out.
"The local handover progress has been delayed for about 8 months, while the Railway Project Management Board has sent documents to Hanoi City 10 times with the hope of having the site soon. At the same time, the Ministry of Construction has also sent documents to the Hanoi People's Committee 3-4 times, however, up to now, the investor has not yet received the site for construction" - Mr. Tan said, emphasizing that the delay in handing over the site not only hinders the project's progress but also causes waste in public investment.
According to Mr. Tan, the latest information received by the Railway Project Management Board is expected to be handed over the site in early October 2025, and the project will be extended to 2026. Currently, the Railway Project Management Board is preparing a report to submit to the Ministry of Construction to adjust the project progress to December 2026.
