The Rạch Ráng suspended bridge crossing Ông Đốc River in Trần Văn Thời District. —Photo plo.vn

CÀ MAU — Residents in the south of Viet Nam have some problems with their roads, and they’ve been told to build a bridge and get over it. Or wait for one to be built.

Agencies in the southernmost province of Cà Mau are seeking to identify the lifespan of Rạch Ráng suspended bridge crossing Ông Đốc River in Trần Văn Thời District.

The move comes after complaints by locals who have had to pay a toll for the bridge for years without being informed when the toll collection will stop.

The bridge was built by a private investor Liêm Duyên Hải Ltd Company, costing VNĐ 15 billion (US$643,000). It opened in July 2010.

Dương Ngọc Kiệm, director of the firm, said according to the contract signed with local authorities, the company could collect toll fees until the Government build another bridge to replace the company’s bridge.

Huỳnh Quốc Việt, director of the province’s Planning and Investment Department, said the province had allowed the investor to collect toll fees for the lifespan of the bridge.

However, Việt told Pháp Luật Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh (HCM City’s Law ) newspaper that he did not know the bridge’s life span and relevant agencies were studying it.

So the people using the Rạch Ráng Bridge might have pay forever, or at least, until the bridge collapses. Which probably be a worse outcome than having to pay forever. — VNS