Irrigation systems running up electrical debts
Lao irrigation systems that use electrical pumps to feed water into channels to farmers’ fields owe a lot of money to Electricite du Laos, the national electricity authority, with many utilities bills remaining outstanding.
Deputy Director General of the Department of Irrigation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Nouanedeng Rajvong told Vientiane Times on 20 January that the debts outstanding from irrigation systems are very large.
There were many reasons that the bills remain unpaid, including that the irrigation systems are broken or that rice crops were destroyed by natural disasters.
