A total of 28 million cubic metre of soil and mud will be dredged before the completion of the project, expected in three years’ time.

"This is a key national project, crucial to the socio-economic development of the Mekong Delta provinces and to the entire country," said Dung.

The annual amount of total imports and exports of the Mekong Delta is about 15 million tonnes but the regional sea and river port system remains underdeveloped, thus failing to meet increasing demands.

Can Tho and Cai Cui, the biggest and second biggest ports in the region, have only been able to accommodate ships with 3,000-5,000 tonnes of load.

The remaining 70-80 per cent of imports or exports of the Mekong Delta still have to be transported to and from HCM City port complex by road, putting a huge strain on road traffic on the National Highway 1 and within the city itself. This expensive means of transport has raised the costs of goods and increased delivery time, which lessens the competitive advantage of agricultural products.

The opening of the new water route will benefit the region in many ways. Road traffic accidents in HCM City are expected to drop as bigger sea vessels will be able to enter the Hau River and the competitiveness of exports will be lifted as a result of reduced transport time and costs.

The new waterway will also help improve the living standard of inhabitants in 13 cities and provinces of the Mekong Delta.

Earlier on the same day, the Prime Minister had a meeting with leaders and former leaders of Tra Vinh Province to review the provincial socio-economic development after 18 years since its re-establishment.

Dung said the provincial leaders and people had done a good job to achieve an average annual economic growth above 10 per cent.

In 2009 alone, the province still managed growth of 8.2 per cent despite the credit crunch.

Tra Vinh, however, faces the biggest difficulties in infrastructure development and poverty reduction, with 19 per cent of provincial households living under the poverty benchmark, said Dung.

"The province thus needs to bring into full play its strengths in tourism and entrepots to sustainably develop itself," he said, confirming the Government’s continuous support to the province in major infrastructure projects.

The Government is making every effort to raise funds so that it can begin the construction of Cu Chien Bridge to narrow the distance between Tra Vinh and HCM City to only 120km, he said.

Monre.gov.vn