Duong Quang Chau, director of Saigon Bridge Construction JSC, a subsidiary of CII, said some VND701 billion has been disbursed for the bridge project.

“With the present tempo, the bridge will be accomplished at the end of November well ahead of schedule,” Chau said on the sidelines of a function where CII announced completion of an issue of VND1 trillion worth of bonds for the project on Wednesday.

Le Quoc Binh, general director of CII, said the bonds issued have a total value of VND1 trillion, with a face value of VND1 billion each. These are inconvertible corporate bonds which are guaranteed by assets through separate issuances, he said.

The six-year bonds, carrying a fixed coupon of 13.2% annually, have found the HCMC branch of Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam, or Vietcombank, as the buyer.

Binh noted the successful bond issuance for the Saigon 2 Bridge project has paved the way for bond issuance for many other infrastructure schemes in the city.

Saigon 2 Bridge as a key project at the city’s gateway in the northeast is expected to make it easier for vehicles to travel back and forth between the city and central and northern regions.

The bridge started construction in April, 2012 and will help reduce chronic overload on the existing Saigon Bridge when in place. It requires an estimated cost of around VND1.49 trillion under the build-transfer format.

Besides Saigon 2 Bridge, CII is also deploying other large projects, including expanding Hanoi Highway and Provincial Road 25B which leads to Cat Lai Port in District 2.