Transport and shipping policy and administration

Despite starting with a bang just a week ago, the Land Traffic Law has already been subject to two amendments from Prime Minister Hun Sen in direct response to a public outcry on Facebook, a stark contrast to the premier’s usual attitude toward online criticism. In ...

Vietnam’s transport minister has called for lower airfares to match a sharp decline in fuel costs, but carriers say their tickets are already affordable.    At a meeting on 4 January, Minister Dinh La Thang asked that Vietnam Airlines make its tickets cheaper after the national carrier reported ...

As of 6 January, possessing a licence to drive a motorbike on Cambodia’s roads no longer requires a driving test. Prime Minister Hun Sen on 5 January announced the elimination of the test along with a decision to more than halve the cost of a licence in ...

ASEAN’s ambitious open-skies scheme has clearly missed the 2015 year-end deadline, and its full implementation appears elusive. Three members of the 10-nation bloc — Indonesia, the Philippines and Laos– seem reluctant to join the scheme for full liberalisation of Southeast Asia’s aviation sector. Keep reading ...

Ho Chi Minh City now has 7.43 million motorbikes, putting serious pressure on its transport infrastructure, local media reported, citing the Department of Transport.    Compared to 2011, the number of new bikes registered in the city has increased by around 2 million, according to a Tuoi Tre ...

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered the transport ministry to create more favorable policies to attract private investment into public infrastructure projects, saying the government’s financial resources are limited.   The state budget cannot be spent extravagantly, and sovereign bonds cannot be issued excessively or ...

Compensation payouts to the owners of land and other property that will be lost when the Laos-China railway is built will be dispensed under a prime ministerial decree, a senior Lao government official has said. Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr Lattanamany Khounnivong, said ...

Much has been done to move construction of the Vientiane-China railway forward following the groundbreaking ceremony that took place last month, the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport has said. Mr Lattanamany Khounnivong told local media last week that construction could take just over four ...

Construction of a restored rail link with Cambodia to improve transport in the Mekong sub-region will be completed by the end of 2016, Khmer officials say. The Phnom Penh Post reported on 4 January that Cambodian Tourism Minister Thong Khon visited the construction site in Banteay Meanchey province, ...

The Customs Department has opened an X-ray scanning terminal for rail freight, the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, at the Laem Chabang port in Si Racha district of Thailand’s Chon Buri province. The opening ceremony was witnessed by chiefs of the department, the State Railway ...