On the south bank of the Bizerte Canal, which divides the Tunisian town of Bizerte into two parts, a towering crane was busy unloading containers. Nearby, site huts were being erected in preparation for constructing a new bridge over the canal.
The new Bizerte Bridge project began in March after the Ministry of Equipment and Housing signed a contract with China’s Sichuan Road and Bridge Group (SRBG).
The new bridge, which will be the second to cross the canal and the largest in Tunisia when completed, has brought hope to local people who have been suffering from the inconvenience of the daily commute.
“We have been suffering from traffic jams between the two banks of the canal for years, but now the new bridge gives us hope,” Mohamed Haffoudhi, a young graduate working in Bizerte, told Xinhua.
The current bascule bridge over the canal was built in 1980. It is regularly closed to traffic every day because the bridge deck has to be raised to allow ships to pass.
TunisianMonitorOnline (NejiMed-Xinhua)
