A section of the Laos-China Expressway.

Progress grinds to a halt on northern section of expressway

Although the first section of an expressway running from Vientiane to the Chinese border was completed three years ago, no progress has been made on the second, third and fourth sections planned for construction in the north of Laos.
The first section stretches from Vientiane to Vangvieng district in Vientiane province and has been fully operational for some time.
The planned second section runs from Vangvieng to Luang Prabang, the third section is planned from Luang Prabang to Oudomxay, and the fourth section is planned from Oudomxay to the Boten-Bohan border crossing, according to the Lao News Agency.
Surveys on the planned route have been carried out but no further progress has been made.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment has reviewed a Chinese company’s request to continue with a feasibility study of the remaining sections of the expressway.
The Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group has renewed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the ministry three times, but has not carried out any construction work beyond Vangvieng.
Wishing to engage a company that is ready and able to build sections two and three of the expressway as soon as possible, in March last year the Prime Minister’s Office rejected a further request from the company to renew the MOU, and cancelled the agreement made with the company regarding construction of these two sections.
A notice issued by the Office stated that the Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group can go ahead with construction of the fourth section of the expressway from Oudomxay to the Laos-China border because the company had already conducted a feasibility study on this section and gathered some data.
However, the notice also stated that the timeframe for the implementation of the project must be clearly defined.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update January 23, 2023)