HCM City (VNA) - Thewaterway links between Ho Chi Minh City andthe Mekong Delta region through river and canal networks, which are proved tobe more advantageous to trade than their road counterparts, have not beenfully utilised.

According to the Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, theinland waterway transport system in the delta measures 13,000km but traffic onthese parts is not as busy as it should be.

Thus, 70 percent of goods coming from the Delta to HCM City portsand Cai Mep – Thi Vai Port in Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinceare transported by road, which costs 10-60 percent more than waterwaytransport.

In a recent report on plans to develop HCM City's waterway network, Tran Vinh Tuyen, Deputy Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee, said the city has 92 waterway routes but only eight meet transportrequirements.

Besides, the delta has 117 bridges with low clearance, making itdifficult for ships to sail under them.

Tran Quang Trung, head of the Southern Region Inland WaterwayAdministration, told Tuoi tre (Youth)newspaper that to develop waterway transport all the low bridges need to bereplaced.

In HCM City, authorities dismantled the Phu Long Bridge in District 12 andreplaced the old Binh Loi RailwayBridge in Binh Thanh districtwith a new taller one this year, he said.

Delta authorities have begun building a new Mang Thit Bridge in Vinh Long province and Nang Hai Bridge in Dong Thap province to begin waterwaytransportation between HCM City and Kien Giang province, he said.

Infrastructure for inland waterway routes must be developedsimultaneously, with inland ports and wharves in the delta equipped withadvanced technologies and equipment for loading and unloading andtransshipment, he added./.