Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 19 attended an inauguration ceremony for the Thuan Phuoc suspension bridge crossing over the Han River in the central city of Da Nang .

With 1,850m in length, Thuan Phuoc is Vietnam ’s longest suspension bridge so far. It is 18m wide and is divided into four lanes for vehicles.

Speaking at the function, PM Dung highly valued the Party Committee, the administration and people of Da Nang for their efforts to further improve infrastructure to enable the city to achieve a higher growth.

The Government leader also asked Da Nang to focus more on promoting economic, cultural and social development and ensuring security and defence to prove itself a key locality in the central region.

The same day, PM Dung took part in a ceremony to kick off construction of the Rong bridge, also spanning the Han River .

Designed by the Louis Berger group, Inc. ( US ), the Rong bridge, once completed by 2013, will take the shape of a dragon flying over the Han River .

Estimated to cost nearly 1.5 trillion VND, the 666m long and 37.6m wide bridge will serve six lanes of vehicles and two other lanes for pedestrians.

The bridge is expected to help shorten the travel time from the city centre to the Da Nang airport./.