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DURING THE INDOCHINA WAR, parts ofViet Nam, Laos and Cambodia suffered themost severe aerial bombing in history. The objective was to destroy roads,

bridges and, further afield, ports, to disruptthe flow of goods and personnel onto thebattlefield. Today, in a dramatic reversal, the

construction of new regional highways,bridges and other infrastructure has beenkey to the economic regeneration and futuregrowth of the whole Mekong area. The 1,450 kilometer East-West economic

corridor linking the port of Mawlamyaing inMyanmar with Danang in Viet Nam viaThailand and Laos is a vivid example ofprogress at work. When the 1,600-meter- long Second

Mekong International Bridge over theMekong River was opened in late 2006—JICA conducted a detailed survey design forthe bridge and provided a yen-loan for itsconstruction—it signaled not only the virtualcompletion of the road network itself but

also the transformation of the entire region.Exports between the Thai capital of

Bangkok and the Vietnamese capital ofHanoi used to take two weeks by sea. Thenew land route has slashed that time to threedays. The bridge directly links the Thai border

town of Mukdahan with the Lao city ofSavannakhet, which has ambitious plans totransform itself.

ALL CHANGEUntil three years ago there was only a

desultory river ferry service between the tworiver banks. Movement was limited. That hasall changed. Shuttle buses now crossregularly. Lao nationals go to Thailand towork. Thai businessmen and tourists move inthe opposite direction.Old timers remember the carpet bombing

of the war years, but based on a JICAproposal, Savannakhet is now planning toestablish three economic zones for factories,warehouses and cargo terminals and hopes

to attract both domestic and foreigninvestment with attractive financial andtrading incentives. Ground breaking hasalready begun. The Logitem Laos GLKP company

established a hub in 2007 to develop aninternational cargo transportation systemand company official Keiichi Sugiyama saidrecently, “Minerals from Laos and demandfor cargo transport from Thai sugar factorieshave been increasing remarkably.” Savannakhet is a pretty mélange of French

colonial buildings and Buddhist temples andthere are plans afoot to develop tourism withJICA providing advice on developing tourguide manuals and promotional websites,pamphlets and posters.

OTHER COMPONENTS NEEDEDNew roads and bridges are only one

component in an efficient transportationnetwork. Government officials in some developing

countries estimate that bureaucratic and

administration bottlenecks at bordercrossings can add several weeks totransportation times, effectively throttlingthe rapid movements of goods and peoplethe infrastructure was supposed to facilitate. The Friendship Bridge linking the Lao

capital of Vientiane with northeasternThailand is daily thronged with trucks,shuttle buses and long lines of peoplewaiting at customs and immigration. The customs point at Nong Khai in

Thailand was chosen in 2008 as a JICA pilotproject to streamline and improve the flow ofpeople and goods and also to put into place a‘risk management’ process to moreeffectively uncover such things as drugsmuggling and illegal ‘copycat’ products suchas CDs which are both rife in the region. Officials from Thailand, Cambodia and Viet

Nam also undergo regular training. LongtimeJapanese customs official Etsuji Uno and aJICA chief advisor who coordinates the JICAprogram said, “As ties among the Mekongcountries become stronger and the number

of people and goods increase, we need tocarefully monitor all of these movements—allowing all the legal movements to passswiftly but also being able to detect theillegal elements efficiently.”

PORTS AND AIRPORTSIn addition to helping build a land-based

transportation network Japanese financeand expertise have also helped to rebuild aseries of terminal points—airports and portsthroughout the Mekong through which allthe region’s exports, imports and passengersmove. One such example is Cambodia’s largest

port, Sihanoukville, which handles virtuallyall of the country’s container and cargotraffic. Though Cambodia’s recent economicgrowth rate topped 10%, Sihanoukville itselffailed to keep pace with the neededexpansion. Starting in 1996, JICA began a survey to

revamp the port and in subsequent yearsyen-loans were provided to expand the

container wharf and equip it with the latestcranes and computer systems. A special economic zone to promote

exports is planned next to Sihanoukville andan improved road system linking the portarea with the capital, Phnom Penh.Local personnel are being constantly

trained in new management techniques. “Everything still takes too long,” saysKazutoshi Sakata, a JICA port administrationand technology expert said. When he helpeddevelop a plan for a new container yard withlocal officials it took three months to arriveat a decision. Patience, however, is a necessity in such

work, to both win Cambodian confidenceand develop their long-term ability to handlethe port themselves. “I let the port staff make the final decisionbecause I want them to have a sense ofresponsibility and ownership,” the Japanesesaid . “There will be trial and error, but theywill learn,” he added, breaking into a wrysmile.

New roads spur industrial development in Viet Nam. Bangkok’s new airportNew port facilities in Viet Nam

Older forms of transport in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.work

New immigrationprocedures speedpassengers.

The International Bridgelinks Thailand and Laos.

Roads, Bridges, Ports and People

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offered families and lovers their onlyrecreational facilities.

In the intervening years, Hanoi has undergone ametamorphosis. A new airport was constructed alongwith highways, bridges, high-rise hotels, apartmentblocks and sophisticated restaurants. The wartime population doubled to three million.

Some four million tourists drop by annually. Theconcentration of motorcyclesto residents is the highest in theworld. As Hanoi virtually exploded

in its efforts to catch up withother Asian cities such asBangkok, relays of Japaneseexperts in 2004 began workingwith city and governmentofficials on a three-year US$S9million project financed by JICA to draw up a masterplan for the city’s future development. That has been completed and several components

are already underway, including the construction ofthe first two lines of a new urban rapid transit system. In a separate program other JICA experts continue

to work with city officials to try to tame the city’schaotic roadways by training local officials and helping

reshape key intersections to relieve heavy congestion,particularly at peak periods. The officially named Hanoi Integrated Development

and Environmental Program (HAIDEP) is the mostambitious urban planning project ever undertaken inViet Nam and covers every aspect of the city’sdevelopment.The new transportation network will be key in just

keeping the city moving. As thepopulation spreads intosurrounding districts, an extra600 kilometers of urban roadsmust be built and the number ofbridges across the Red River andDuong River increased from twoto eight. A rapid transport system

incorporating four major rail linesand various branches and a subway system isenvisaged at a cost of several billion dollars.The environment has already suffered dramatically,

and Hanoi will need all the help it can get as it movesinto its next millennium. The population is expected to nearly double to

around five million by 2020 and the number of touriststo explode from four to 23 million people. �

WHEN THE VIETNAMESE CAPITAL OF HANOIcelebrates its 1,000th birthday next year it hopes to bewearing a new face.For much of its existence, Hanoi was little more than

a small town and then a sleepy colonial outpost. During

the war with the United States it suffered terribly andeven by the 1990s its most distinctive features werethe wonderfully ornate French colonial Opera House,the maze of narrow streets and shops in the ancientquarter and a placid series of lakes whose banks

The old city (below)

work

Hanoi’s population is expected to double within

the next 10 years The city desperately needs new roads and railroads (left).The French colonial opera house in downtown Hanoi

The old (left) and the new (above). Tourists invade Hanoi (above right).

Hanoi—Putting on a New Face

The Japan InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) is the world’slargest bilateraldevelopment organ-ization, operating insome 150 countries tohelp some of the globe’smost vulnerable people.

Publisher: Juro ChikaraishiOffice of Media and PublicRelations

Editor: Raymond Wilkinson

Art Director: Vincent Winter Associates

JICA’S WORLDis published bi-monthlyby JICANibancho Center Bldg 5-25,Niban-choChiyoda-ku Tokyo 102-8012 JAPAN

TELEPHONE: +81-3-5226-6660-3FAX: +81-3-5226-6396INTERNET:http://www.jica.go.jp

Comments: jicagap-opinion@jica.go.jp

Cover Photograph: Vietnam—Life on the Mekong River by Quang Tuan Luong

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