Infrastructure
Transport and shipping
China, Laos to build $6.3 bln railway project by 2020
China aims to complete laying a 418-kilometre (260-mile) railway from a border town to Laos by 2020, the official China Economic Herald reported, as the economic giant seeks a new route into the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. The two countries agreed on 13 November to jointly ...
Setting the right price for investors

Subscription to the initial public offering of Phnom Penh Autonomous Port (PPAP) opened on 12 November. The capital’s port operator aims to raise $5.2 million by floating a 20 per cent stake on the Cambodian stock exchange in December, becoming the third company to list on ...
Vietnam plans Hanoi-Vientiane highway project: report

Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport has started a feasibility study on a 760-kilometer highway to connect Hanoi and Vientiane, local media reported on 11 November. The study conducted by Transport Engineering Design Inc. will help decide whether the route should pass through Nghe An or Ha Tinh, two central ...
Overpass mulled as solution to Vientiane's traffic snarls

Officials are wrestling with the problem of identifying a long-term solution to Vientiane’s chronic traffic jams and some are suggesting that an overpass might ease the situation. While no such scheme currently exists, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility to imagine that overpasses will ...
Ho Chi Minh City eyes $380mln of loans for waterway expansion

Ho Chi Minh City has asked for the central government’s help in taking out loans worth around US$380 million for a major dredging program to deepen one of its key waterways, local media reported on 9 November. The Soai Rap, a tributary of the Saigon River, ...
Concrete roads pave way to the future in Vientiane
More roads in Vientiane and the provinces are being built or upgraded using concrete rather than asphalt as the authorities recognise its durability against the ravages of wet weather and heavy trucks. An official from the Vientiane Public Works and Transport Department, who asked not to ...
Bangkok's main airport to get huge traffic surge

Suvarnabhumi airport expects to see traffic surge nearly 20% over the next six months on the back of strong high-season travel demand, turning it into one of Asia’s busiest airports. A total of 24.8 million passengers are expected to pass through the country’s gateway airport between 25 ...
Activist raps Thailand's deadly road safety record

The high road fatality rates that make Thai roads the world’s second deadliest may in fact be understated, said Prommin Kantiya, director of the Accident Prevention Network (APN). Mr Prommin, who was responding on 5 November to the Public Health Ministry’s campaign to reduce road fatality rates, said ...
Proposed Xayaboury airport still up in the air
The go ahead for construction of a new airport in Xayaboury province is still awaiting government approval with no decision in sight. The provincial Public Works and Transport Department sent plans for a new airport to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport earlier this year. A ...
Proposed Xayaboury airport still up in the air
The go ahead for construction of a new airport in Laos’ Xayaboury province is still awaiting government approval with no decision in sight. The provincial Public Works and Transport Department sent plans for a new airport to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport earlier this ...