Linking Laos and Thailand.
A bridge across the Mekong links two countries of the Golden Triangle
New bridge opens linking Laos and Thailand, part of the great highway from Burma (MYanmar) to Vietnam that runs through Thailand and Laos.
The second Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge opened mid-December. linking Mukdahan in Thailand to Sauvannakhet in Laos and running all the way to the ports of Hue and Danang in central Vietnam. The first bridge was built with a gift of US$30 million from the Australian Government.
This is part of the Mekong Basin Development which will eventually incorporate the East-West Corridor linking Burma-Thailand-Laos-Vietnam. The 1.6m-long two-lane bridge with a half kilometre of service and access roads has to accommodate the fact that Thais drive on the left in Thailand but on the right in Laos and Vietnam, so lane-changing space has been installed on the Thai side. Vehicles will drive on the right while on the bridge, the traffic changeover taking place on the Thai side.
Vietnam finds this issue quite worrying and so far has refused to allow Thai traffic from Laos to enter at random, insisting that all vehicles are escorted by road patrol cars.
The hope is that this will boost trade and travel between Thailand and Indochina and pave the way for the, approximately, 39,000 displaced Vietnam rufugees in Thailand (5,000 of whom are Mukdahan-based) to meet their relatives in Vietnam. Few of these refugees enjoy the same rights as Thai citizens and until Thai-Vietnamese relations were normalised six years ago, communication with relatives was made secretly through letters. Now thanks to cordial ties, vists from relatives are possible.
See also Laos Opens Wartune Caves
