Donnokkhoum-450 road builder’s contract extended for 18 months

The contract for the company building an 11-km road from Donnokkhoum village in Sisattanak district to the 450 Year Road in Xaysettha district has been extended by 18 months after the contractor faced a shortage of funds.
Project Director, Mr Sacksombath Taysouliya, told Vientiane Times that “The agreement for the project has been extended from July this year to the end of 2020 because of the contractor’s limited budget.”

“Now, the main construction work has been suspended and only cleaning along the road is being done.”
Two dual carriageway bridges along the road were both open to traffic, but only one side was operational at Nakhuay village with the approaches yet to be completed, and railings have to be installed on the bridge across That Luang Marsh. The road itself was about 80 percent complete, Mr Sacksombath said.
The contractor signed an initial contract for 36 months in July 2012. The authorisation was later renewed until July 2017, but not much progress was made on the project as the contractor ran out of money.
Further problems arose when the company and landholders could not agree on the amount of compensation to be paid at certain points along the road, according to the Project Director.
The road will be 11.66 km long and was initially estimated to cost more than US$76 million (600 billion kip), which will be paid by the government.
The project is being implemented through a contract between the Vientiane Public Works and Transport Department and the Namtha Road and Bridge Construction Company.
The road is being built in three sections - the first runs from Donnokkhoum village in Sisattanak district to Xiengda village in Xaysettha district over a distance of 4,100 metres, with a width of 32 metres. It will have six lanes, sidewalks on both sides, street lamps and drainage.
This stretch will have a concrete bridge that is 241 metres long and 33.15 metres wide.
The second section from the T-junction in Xiengda village to Nakhuay village will be 5,400 metres long, and 23.50 metres wide and have six lanes and drainage channels.
This section will have a concrete bridge that is 62 metres long and 30.75 metres wide.
The last section runs from Nakhuay village to the 450 Year Road. According to the contract, it will be 1,500 metres long, but it will actually need to be 2,160 metres in length and 17 metres wide. This section will have four lanes and drainage, and will be asphalted.
The project cost is expected to rise to more than US$78 million due to changes made to the height of the bridges, while the road will be paved with concrete instead of asphalt to withstand the many expected heavy trucks.
Currently, only the junction at Nakhuay it is planned to be asphalted.
Authorities have also shortened the length of the two bridges from 241 metres to 211 metres to prevent further cost overruns.

By Phomphong Laoin
(Latest Update September 23, 2019)