Chinese Government provides RMB 137 million grant for Namyang-Tumen Border Bridge Construction Project

Project narrative

On September 15, 2015, the Chinese Government and the Government of North Korea signed an agreement regarding the Namyang-Tumen Border Bridge Construction Project. The agreement was signed in Pyongyang by North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Myong-guk and the Chinese Ambassador to North Korea, Li Jinjun. The Chinese Government agreed to finance the project with an RMB 137 million grant. The purpose of the project was to construct an 800 meter-long, two-way, four-lane bridge (exact locational coordinates: 42.94905, 129.849236) over the Tumen River to connect the North Korean border city of Nanyang and the Chinese border city of Tumen. Tumen Port, consisting of a road port and railway port, is an international passenger and cargo transportation port, and the second-largest land port in China to North Korea. Opposite the port is Nanyang Port of North Korea with an annual cargo capacity of 5.6 million tons. The project commenced in 2016. Construction was temporarily suspended in January 2017 due to snowfall and cold temperatures. However, new road work on the Chinese side of the bridge ramped up in early May 2020, and a building immediately in front of the bridge entrance was demolished in late June 2020. Satellite imagery shows that roadwork continued through late July 2020. The project was completed on August 31, 2020.