News
High-speed Rail Project Will Force Thousands of Lao Families to Relocate
More than 4,400 Lao families are being forced to relocate to make way for the U.S. $6 billion Lao-Chinese high-speed railway whose construction began nearly a year ago as part of a longer rail project that will link China to mainland Southeast Asia, a public ...
Roseanne Gerin
Laos-China railway awaits landmine clearance
Construction of the Laos-China railway in Luang Namtha province has yet to commence as some UXO clearance activities need to be completed before the rail builders can move full steam ahead with the project. The Ministry of National Defence has reported to the Luang Namtha ...
MPs to mull Japan’s soft loan offer
Parliament will decide this week whether or not to accept a US$824 million soft loan from Japan. The government has proposed the loan to Pyidaungsu Hluttaw for a range of capital projects, including aid to farmers, building roads and bridges for rural development, expanding electricity ...
Industrial rail project gathers steam with government push
Transport Minister Sun Chanthol has vowed to reinvigorate a long-dormant project to connect the Kingdom’s sole operating railway line to the capital’s biggest industrial park – a move that would boost rail traffic ahead of the completion of a rail link to northwestern Cambodia and ...
Floods spread to 12 provinces
Households and businesses in the South have been hit hard by flooding while all train services heading to the lower part of the region suspended after tracks were damaged by floodwater. At least 12 provinces in the South have been affected by flooding which began ...
Laos-China railway to spur border zone development
The Laos-China railway will provide significant momentum for the development of the Boten-Mohan border economic cooperation zone, experts have noted. The railroad, a key project under China’s Belt and Road initiative, will link the Mohan-Boten border crossing in northern Laos to Vientiane, over a distance ...
China eyes high speed railway as part of One Belt, One Road strategy
A super fast railway will connect Myanmar’s cities, cutting the journey time from Muse, Shan State, to Yangon to one hour. That was the claim made by China’s consul general in a recent meeting in Mandalay. Wang Zongying was discussing China’s One Belt One Road project, ...
Myanma railways to ramp up carriage production next year
A new Myanma Railways passenger carriage factory built with Chinese help is expected to be up and running by the end of the next financial year, according to the factory’s general manager. The new Myit Nge factory is being built on a 27-acre plot some ...
China is stepping up its global power play
With US president-elect Donald Trump threatening to build a wall on the Mexican border and force Asian allies to increase defence spending, Beijing is busy luring countries across the eastern hemisphere into its orbit. President Xi Jinping, who is consolidating his power at home, is ...
Makkasan land deal derails
The Finance Ministry has backed away from developing the 500-rai Makkasan plot owned by the State Railway of Thailand under a debt-for-land deal with the rail agency. The State Enterprise Policy Commission, or the superboard, earlier agreed to a proposal that the SRT lease the Makkasan ...