By regional correspondent Mark Perrow

Vietnam has announced that it plans to build a new north-south road on the site of the old Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The route was a key strategic link for North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War.

Now it will be turned into a national highway, bringing the two parts of the country together.

The plans to build a second north-south road were announced with considerable fanfare in Vietnam.

The road will run more than 1,600 kilometres, from the capital, Hanoi, in the north to Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, in the south.

Three year project

The first phase alone will cost more than $370m.

More than 300 bridges will have to be built and it's hoped that the project will be complete by 2003.

For much of its route the highway will follow the trail used by North Vietnamese forces to move men and supplies during the war, which ended in 1975.

At its height the route was made up of 16,000 kilometres of footpaths, canals and tunnels, for the most part hidden in a dense tropical forest.

Bombs

United States forces dropped thousands of tonnes of bombs on the trail, but they failed to sever the crucial route to the south.

For Vietnam this is about more than commemorating the victory of twenty-five years ago.

At present the country has only one north-south highway, often closed by frequent floods and landslides.

Engineers plan to build the new road above last year's highest flood levels to ensure the Ho Chi Minh Highway is open all the year round.