Since the target for new rural transportation was defined, the whole system of the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church joint with local authorities to build many concrete bridges in rural areas. The provincial Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism in provinces has been entrusted by local authorities to raise billions of VND for building new bridges. According to summary report for the third Term, there were 192 bridges built in provinces of Dong Thap and An Giang with about 70% of the total budget and 100% of human resource for building of these bridges contributed by Hoa Hao Buddhists.

In particular, in the district of Chau Phu, 10 bridges meeting criteria of new rural transportation have been built, with 30% of the budget financed by the district authorities and the rest raised by followers of Hoa Hao Buddhism.    

The local authorities have highly appreciated the efficiency of the contribution by the Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhist Church in meeting the need for concrete bridges in rural areas in aspect of fund raising (quick and effective), construction quality (meeting technological and safety requirements, completing time (normally not exceeding 40 days). Besides, the real cost for building a bridge is normally less than 30% as compared to the proposed budget because Hoa Hoa Buddhists work in bridge building as volunteers, and bridge building materials and foods for workers could be cheaply bought or taken for granted…

In building 192 bridges in the third Term, a total sum of approximately 57,600,000,000 VND has been raised by the Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism at various levels.

Hoa Hao Buddhist Church’s active involvement in building bridges in rural areas in recent years has become an important part of its social charity activities, and together with local authorities effectively contributed to the new rural development in localities.

 (Source: phatgiaohoahao.org.vn)