Urban administration and development
Vientiane gears up for an exciting Lao New Year
People nationwide are eagerly anticipating the Lao New Year (Pi Mai Lao) festival (Year of the Rooster) next week, with the official holiday taking place from April 14-16. Vientiane is preparing an exciting programme of activities for locals and visitors alike, including a Miss Vientiane ...
Residents seek to legitimise homes on farm land
The southern metropolis’ breakneck urbanisation has turned much its surrounding agricultural land into urban space, both officially and unofficially. Residential houses have been built on top of former farmland parcels for decades now, however, existing law has not provided legitimacy for this practice, leading to ...
Laos-Cambodia border closed over tensions
In the latest flare up in tensions between the two countries, Lao authorities temporarily shut a border crossing with Cambodia and dispatched more troops to an un-demarcated area on the northern border after Cambodian authorities began renovating an old French border outpost. According to local ...
Pakxe looks forward to new park with embankment construction set to start
Provision of compensation for people affected by the Mekong River Integrated Management Project in central Pakxe, Champassak province, is complete, paving the way for construction to begin this month. A project to extend the riverbank and create a green and relaxing public space similar to ...
Capital still struggling with waste
Phnom Penh deputy governor Ieng Aunny on March 28 acknowledged that the capital continues to struggle with waste management despite recent decentralisation measures, laying the blame with districts’ and communes’ lack of awareness of their new responsibilities, as well as what he characterised as contractor ...
Vendors, beggars banned from pedestrian-only zone
Vendors and beggars will not be allowed on 26th Street to the south of the Mandalay palace moat during the Thingyan festival next month and will face action if they are caught, warned Police Major U Nyein Chan Aung from Mandalay City Development Committee Police ...
Withdraw illegal NRCs issued: Rakhine Hluttaw
National Registration Cards issued to non-Myanmar nationals since August 2016 should be declared invalid and withdrawn, Rakhine Hluttaw Original Rights of Citizens and Special Cases Investigation Committee said. This was among six suggestions made by the committee in its report submitted to the state Hluttaw ...
Asia dominates rankings of most expensive cities
Asian cities such as Singapore and Tokyo were the most expensive worldwide for residents in 2016, as currency appreciation drove an increase in the general cost of living. The Worldwide Cost of Living research, conducted semiannually by The Economist Intelligence Unit, found that half of ...
Still no warnings on some tobacco packs
Some tobacco producers who sell their products on the local market still refuse to place graphic images and health warnings on cigarette packaging despite a government decree on the matter coming into force several months ago. Mom Kong, the executive director of the Cambodia Movement ...
Study examines road safety
About 60 high school and university students experimented with an interactive tool for learning about road safety at Phnom Penh’s Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center on March 18, as part of an ongoing study by the Honda Foundation’s International Association of Traffic and Safety Sciences. The study, ...