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Persons with disabilities given opportunities for income generation
Persons with disabilities and their households in Xieng Khuang and Savannakhet provinces are set to benefit from income generating activities, thanks to support from the Okard project. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Okard Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID) project has provided 520 million ...
Times Reporters
The Completed China-Laos Railway: Bringing Opportunities for ASEAN and the Asia Pacific
In early December 2021, Laos inaugurated the Boten-Vientiane railway, a 414-kilometer (km) electrified high-speed railway that runs between the capital Vientiane and the town of Boten on the Laos-China border. This US$6 billion project (equivalent to one-third of Laos’ GDP) is backed by China as part ...
Ayman Falak Medinav
Construction of fifth Lao-Thai Mekong bridge 23% complete
Work on the fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River, linking Pakxan district in Borikhamxay province to Bueng Kan province in northeastern Thailand, is now 23 per cent complete. The bridge is expected to be fully complete in 2024 and will serve to boost trade ...
Laos Will Open $5.9 Billion Railway as Debt to China Mounts
Laos, a nation of 7 million people wedged between China, Vietnam and Thailand, is opening a $5.9 billion Chinese-built railway that links China’s poor southwest to foreign markets but piles on potentially risky debt. The line through lush tropical mountains from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to ...
Kurtenbach contributed from Bangkok
Laos banks on new high-speed railway to draw tourists and investment
The men arrived in dark jackets, and the women in fine woven silk skirts. They filed into the gleaming railway station under a red sign that said “Vientiane” in Lao and Chinese. Then they set off. Laotian lawmakers took a test ride on their country’s first ...
Tan Hui Yee
Champassak to forge ahead with Mekong management project
Authorities in Champassak province are confident that the Mekong River Integrated Management Project planned for Pakxe city will soon resume now that the Ministry of Finance has submitted a request for an additional loan to complete the first phase of the Landslide Protection Project. Officials in ...
Times Reporters
Farmers Encouraged to Replace Tobacco Crops in Laos
Health officials in Laos have asked the government to encourage farmers to grow other crops as alternatives to growing tobacco. Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Sanong Thongsana, has provided answers to questions by National Assembly members on Friday regarding the amendment of the draft law on ...
Phayboune Thanabouasy
Thailand agrees to buy electricity from Laos, ignoring NGOs’ concerns
Thai power authorities have agreed after a long delay to buy electricity from three hydropower projects in Laos, pushing aside objections from Thai NGOs who say the dams’ operations will harm the ecosystem along the Mekong River. The Nov. 5 decision by the Thai National Energy ...
eported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
China-backed gold mine in Laos pollutes local river, killing fish
A gold mine run by a Chinese company in southern Laos is releasing waste into a river in Sekong province, killing fish and fouling water used by villagers for drinking and bathing, Lao sources say. The Lao Kaleum Gold Mining Project began operations last year and ...
Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Lao inspectors uncover more than $216M lost to corruption incidents
Laos’ State Inspection Authority (SIA) has discovered that more than 2.24 trillion kip ($216 million) has been lost in incidents involving corruption, following investigations conducted over the past year. The authority said a huge amount of money had been misappropriated, consisting of 1.86 trillion kip, $24.88 ...
Asia News Network
