Infrastructure
Making Southeast Asia's skies safer
Last week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the safety rating for the entire Thai aviation system, placing it among those of a handful of countries — including Southeast Asian neighbors Bangladesh and Indonesia — that don’t meet international “minimum safety oversight standards.” Boeing expects Southeast Asian airlines ...
Ho Chi Minh City passengers, drivers are getting off the buses
Buses, essentially the only public transport available in Ho Chi Minh City, are turning both passengers and drivers away due to a lack of investment, officials said at a conference on 4 December. The city’s transport department estimated that the system will have seen nearly 324 million ...
Vietnam's biggest airport to stop receiving new flights during rush hours
As overcrowding is getting more serious at Vietnam’s largest airport Tan Son Nhat, local aviation authority is now looking to stop receiving new flights during rush hours, a local official said on 5 December. Dang Tuan Tu, director of the Ho Chi Minh City-based airport, was ...
Huaphan roadwork slowly uncoiling bends
The winding road between Xieng Khuang and Huaphan provinces in the northern part of the country is steadily being straightened and widened, an official confirmed. An official from the Huaphan provincial Public Works and Transport Department Mr Ounchay Sisaengchan, told Vientiane times on 1 December that each ...
China-invested cement plant inaugurated in Laos
A Chinese-invested cement factory in central Laos was inaugurated on Thursday in Khammouane province, expected to serve the construction of China-Laos railway project in the country. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath, who also cut the ribbon for the commencement ...
China signs rice, rubber deals with Thailand
China has signed rice and rubber purchase deals with Thailand as part of the Thai-Sino railway development agreement. Negotiations over the railway are continuing. The deals were signed at the ninth meeting of the Joint Committee on Railway Cooperation in Bangkok on 3 December. Keep reading ...
Cambodian Government touts internet record despite telecom law concerns
Government officials defended Cambodia’s record on internet freedom on 3 December, despite concerns that recent and proposed legislation could curtail the rights of those speaking out online. Addressing a conference on the issue in Phnom Penh, Meas Sophorn, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Information, ...
Thai PM urged to await verdict before paying constructor of Klong Dan project
A civic group on 3 December petitioned Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to exercise his special power and cancel the Cabinet’s resolution approving the payment of Bt9.6 billion in compensation to the constructor of the corruption-plagued Klong Dan wastewater-treatment project. Keep reading ...
China starts work on Laos railway, eyeing farther horizons
The first Southeast Asian rail project to grow out of China’s transcontinental vision for new economic links got underway on 2 December. The president of Laos, Choummaly Sayasone, dug into a tidy pyramid of white sand at the groundbreaking ceremony in Vientiane for a roughly $6 ...
Unlocking potentials of Laos through China-Laos friendship railway
The long-awaited railway that would connect the landlocked Laos with China would soon become a reality as an agreement was signed between authorities from the two countries for the construction, which is scheduled to start this month. The China-Laos railway will speed up not just the ...
