The Ministry of Transport opened the Da Nang city's southern ring-roadproject on May 19 after nearly two years' work. It is expected to boostdevelopment in the central city's southern region.

Part of aWorld Bank-funded priority infrastructure project, it includes 6.79km offour-lane road, two bridges that connect National Highway No 1 and thecoastal Truong Sa Road.

The project was backed with 1trillion VND (48 million USD) from World Bank's Official Development Agency (ODA) funding.

"Theroute will ease congestion in the city centre and support the East-WestEconomic Corridor that links Thailand, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam,"Chairman of the city's People's Committee Van Huu Chien said at theopening ceremony.

"The project marks the co-operation between thecity and the World Bank in developing the city's infrastructure andsocio-economic development."

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang said the project showed the city's capabilities in developing infrastructure projects.

Hesaid the ministry and the city would co-operate further in developingseries strategic projects, such as the Da Nang-Quang Ngai Expressway,the relocation of the railway station; upgrading sea ports and expansionof the Hai Van Tunnel.

The operations manager for the WorldBank's Vietnam portfolio, Keiko Sato, said nearly every citizen in thesouthern part of the city and suburbs would benefit from the ring-road.

She said she appreciated the strong leadership from the city's administration in completing the quality project on schedule.

The completion of the ring-road will help the city speed up a plan to become a Green city by 2025.

Keiko said the bank would continue to support the central city.-VNA