A model of the third Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge linking Nakhon Phanom and Khammuan in Laos
The third Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge linking Nakhon Phanom and Tha Khaek in Laos’ Khammuan province is 90% complete and will be opened in November, according to Nakhon Phanom governor Reungsak Mahavinichaimontri. The bridge is 5.2km long, including a 780-metre part crossing the Mekong. The structure, which received government approval in 2007, has taken around two and a half years to build with 1.7 billion baht investment.
The bridge is 13 metres wide with two traffic lanes and a footpath on each side, but without space for a railway. In the middle of the bridge there will be a sign warning motorists to switch from the left to the right lane, which is the driving style in Laos. The Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge is the third link across Mekong River after the bridges connecting Nongkhai-Vientiane and Mukdahan-Savannakhet.
The governor said the project would certainly shorten travel time between the two countries and help promote trade, investment and tourism. It will also help logistics systems from the Indochina region to southern China. To facilitate the logistics, Nakhon Phanom province will set aside a 70-million baht budget to build a giant distribution centre on a 100-rai plot of land as well as another 12 million baht to establish an exhibition centre in town.
The number of tourists is expected to double from 40,000 to 80,000 a year because driving from Nakhon Phanom to the middle parts of Laos and Vietnam will be easier, said the TAT Nakhon Phanom office director Wichukorn Kularbsri. Nakhon added that the bridge could also be promoted as another route facilitating people and goods to travel from southern China to central Vietnam within a two-day drive.
Source Bangkok Post
Thomas A. says:
April 27, 2012 at 5:44 pm
Very exciting news indeed, but what hasn’t been mentioned is the amount of redtape and restrictions on driving from Thailand to Vietnam in a Thai RHD vehicle. Basically Vietnam arrogantly doesn’t allow it except for approved caravan trips. This means if you want to drive in all three countries you’ll need a Lao registered vehicle, which can easily enter both Thailand and Vietnam with no special restrictions (max. stay for the car is 30 days in each country). Driving your own vehicle into China is also bound with lots of restrictions, but it can be done. Fortunately, unlike Vietnam there are no issues with RHD vehicles in China, but they impose restrictions on foreign registered vehicles irrespective of country of registration entering their territory.
The other issue is trade. Clearing customs at two intermediate countries (Laos and Vietnam) ain’t easy nor does it help that the redtape imposed by Vietnam means either a Lao or Vietnamese truck would need to transport goods originating in Thailand between the Lao/Vietnam border and the Vietnam/China border. I don’t think Chinese trucks are allowed into Vietnam either so even if it’s more of a circuitous route, but traveling via Laos directly to Yunnan may almost be faster even if heading to Guangxi – there is an expressway that starts in Jinghong and goes up to Kunming – on the way an eastbound expressway links Kunming with Guangzhou via Nanning. By contrast, Vietnamese roads are a joke and traffic sputters along at like 50km/h for hundreds of km.
Very exciting news indeed, but what hasn’t been mentioned is the amount of redtape and restrictions on driving from Thailand to Vietnam in a Thai RHD vehicle. Basically Vietnam arrogantly doesn’t allow it except for approved caravan trips. This means if you want to drive in all three countries you’ll need a Lao registered vehicle, which can easily enter both Thailand and Vietnam with no special restrictions (max. stay for the car is 30 days in each country). Driving your own vehicle into China is also bound with lots of restrictions, but it can be done. Fortunately, unlike Vietnam there are no issues with RHD vehicles in China, but they impose restrictions on foreign registered vehicles irrespective of country of registration entering their territory.
The other issue is trade. Clearing customs at two intermediate countries (Laos and Vietnam) ain’t easy nor does it help that the redtape imposed by Vietnam means either a Lao or Vietnamese truck would need to transport goods originating in Thailand between the Lao/Vietnam border and the Vietnam/China border. I don’t think Chinese trucks are allowed into Vietnam either so even if it’s more of a circuitous route, but traveling via Laos directly to Yunnan may almost be faster even if heading to Guangxi – there is an expressway that starts in Jinghong and goes up to Kunming – on the way an eastbound expressway links Kunming with Guangzhou via Nanning. By contrast, Vietnamese roads are a joke and traffic sputters along at like 50km/h for hundreds of km.