Ministry vows to improve road construction standards at a reasonable cost

 
The public works and transport sector has committed itself to improving road construction standards at a reasonable cost during a meeting of officials from across the nation being held in Vientiane.
Delivering his opening remarks yesterday at the two-day meeting, the Minister of Public Works and Transport, Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong, called on the participants to frankly share their insights on the outcomes of a panel discussion held two days earlier to improve the performance of the sector.
 It was the first time the ministry held such a panel discussion, which focused on all the hot topics, ahead of the nationwide meeting that is held every two years.

Participants will discuss ways to improve the quality and technical standards for road and bridge repairs and construction, and quality improvement by both state and private construction enterprises and consultant companies.
The meeting will also discuss construction unit price to ensure reasonable costs for infrastructure development.
The effort for such improvements follows reports about the poor quality of many roads in Laos and unreasonably high construction costs. 
Dr Bounchanh told the National Assembly in December that there are many reasons for the poor road quality and overpriced projects.
Most such projects were implemented since 2007 without approval from the Parliament and the government. These projects did not go through a bidding process and the investors themselves were responsible for surveys, design plans and construction. Even consulting companies were chosen by the contractors in most projects, and some consulting companies were insufficiently qualified.
The government could save more than 3.5 trillion kip (almost US$419 million) from overvalued projects within the sector following inspections in 2017 and 2018.
Dr Bounchanh said no such projects had been implemented since 2017, after the government took strong action to address the issue. In an attempt to improve the quality of road and bridge construction while keeping costs at a reasonable level, the meeting is scheduled to discuss some documents that will be used as a reference, according to the minister.
The documents include a draft executive order of the Prime Minister to enhance strictness of procedures for survey, design, technical standards, construction, work activities and unit price for infrastructure development within the public works and transport sector. The 2019 amended unit price for road and bridge construction and repairs will also be tabled at the meeting.
Measures to address accumulated debts within the public works and transport sector will also be tabled at the meeting.

By Souksakhone Vaenkeo
(Latest Update March 29, 2019)