A deputy-director with the ministry, Phetsamone Viraphanh, told media sources in Laos that an application for funding for a fifth bridge had been submitted to the Neighbouring Countries Development Agency in Thailand. This bridge will connect the province of Bolikhamsai to Bueng Kan in Thailand.
The estimated cost of building the bridge has been put at US$85 million. The Lao and Thai governments will split the cost of construction equally and it will break ground in 2019 if the necessary funding gets the green light.
The draught plans for the bridge show a length of 1,350 meters and a width of 17 metres. Highway 17 follows the Mekong riverbank in Bolikhamsai and is the principal southern route between Vientiane, Pakse and the southern Lao border with Cambodia.
If the two other Friendship bridges are eventually built, they will link the Lao provinces of Vientiane and Salavan with Loei and Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand. The bridges constructed plus those in the pipeline have replaced or will replace ferry services. Bridges allow buses and cargo trucks to cross the Mekong and provide more convenience.
Laos wants three more friendship bridges to Thailand
News in Asia
The Ministry of Public Works in Laos says it would like three more Mekong River bridges to Thailand. If the structures are all built, this will take the number of Lao-Thai Friendship bridges spanning their common river border to seven.