Cambodia opens bridge over Mekong River

Cambodia opens bridge over Mekong River

CAMBODIA: Cambodia's first bridge spanning the Mekong River was opened on Tuesday, a US$56-million project linking east and west Cambodia by road for the first time.

The 1.36 km bridge -- paid for by the Japanese government -- should boost trade from Cambodia's commodity-rich eastern provinces and improve road transport with Laos and Vietnam, officials in Kompong Cham said.

"The bridge will help develop Cambodia and the Mekong sub- region," Prime Minister Hun Sen said at the opening ceremony in Kompong Cham province, 75 kms northeast of Phnom Penh.

Ferries, operating in daylight hours only, took at least one hour to cross the Mekong River which divides Cambodia from it's border with Laos in the north to its southern border with Vietnam. --Reuters