Climate change, global warming cause drought in Laos: experts
In recent years, the direct impact of climate change and global warming can be seen on the changing weather patterns in the world, including the recent droughts in the Laos, said senior experts of Lao Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. Local daily Vientiane Times on ...
UNDP launches inequalities analysis in Laos
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Laos has launched an inequalities analysis in three steps of ‘beyond income, beyond averages, and beyond today,’ proposing a battery of policy options to tackle it. The 2019 edition of UNDP’s Human Development Report (HDR) on “Beyond Income, Beyond Averages, ...
Vientiane Times
Japan pouring US$17.8 million into Luang Prabang water supply upgrade
The Japanese government is funding a grant aid project worth US$17.8 million to improve the water supply system in Luang Prabang city, under a grant agreement signed in Vientiane on Thursday. The agreement was signed by the Director General of the Department of International Cooperation of ...
Over US$180 million invested at That Luang Marsh project, Laos
Over US$180 million has been spent so far on building infrastructure facilities and condos at That Luang Marsh Specific Economic Zone (SEZ) in Vientiane, officials in charge of the project have said. Construction began in December 2012, with the US$1.6 billion project being developed as a ...
Lao education officials confer on higher education strategy
Lao Ministry of Education and Sports’ senior officials and involved sectors gathered on 5 February to discuss national higher education development and strategic planning from now until 2025. The meeting’s major goals were to draft a strategy and development plan for the higher education sector for the ...
Bokeo province expects to reduce banana plantation sites
Authorities of Bokeo province confirmed they will not allow investors to expand areas for banana plantation projects, aiming to protect the environment and peoples’ health. According to a report from the ad hoc committee for banana farm inspection, the authorities will not allow the expansion of ...
Law amended to improve government performance
The amended Law on Government, which was passed by the National Assembly (NA) on 15 December, aims to improve the government’s performance through more transparent and frugal practices. Amendments to Article 4 on the performance principles to be followed by government stipulate that its performance or ...
Revenue gain not equal to forestry losses: Govt
Even though more than US$100 million has been generated in national revenue from the timber industry over the past 10 years, this is insufficient to compensate for the loss of the country’s forestry resources. Forestry officials said losses in revenue from the timber industry were ...
Lao Government blocks funds for rural road repair in favor of ASEAN projects in the capital
Government authorities in cash-strapped Laos are withholding funds urgently needed to repair flood-damaged roads in the country’s provinces, saying that available resources must be spent on improvements in the capital Vientiane ahead of regional summit meetings next year. Provincial public works and transport departments may also ...
US should withhold trade, aid from Laos barring rights improvements: Advocacy leader
Washington must withhold trade agreements and assistance from Laos until its government can demonstrate concrete progress on human rights and democratic reform in the one party communist country, the head of an advocacy group has recommended to U.S. lawmakers.Mutually beneficial trade arrangements and political exchanges ...
Bomb explosion kills two Chinese in Laos
An early morning bomb blast at a road construction site near a military camp in Laos’ Xaysomboun province killed two Chinese officials and injured a third on 24 January, RFA’s Lao Service has learned. The explosion near a work camp outside the Pha Nok Kok village ...
Second phase of Nam Ou hydropower project kicks off
The Nam Ou River Basin Hydropower Project located in Phongsaly and Luang Prabang provinces has launched its second phase of construction in Vientiane on April 28, after completing the Nam Ou 2, 5 and 6 hydropower plants during the first phase. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister ...
Recent arrests highlight Laos drug problems
Seizures of large quantities of synthetic drugs and their precursor chemicals by Lao police in recent months point to renewed efforts by authorities to slow growing rates of addiction in the impoverished, one-party state, sources say. In a major haul on 23 July at a warehouse ...
Govt widens ban on timber exports, tightens wood business
The government has announced a new ban on the export of various tree species, timber products and ornamental plants in a move to take ownership of and maximise the benefits of Laos’ natural resources. Prime Minister ThonglounSisoulith issued an order last week imposing the ban on ...
Laos in the spotlight again over human rights
Human rights violations are again an issue in Laos – and a thorn in the side of a government more concerned with centrally-planned economic policies – following the death 61-year-old Tiang Kwentianthong. Tiang was originally arrested for praying for a sick woman without government approval. Reports ...
Mega First gets hydropower concession in Laos
Power and quarry player Mega First Corp Bhd said an 80%-owned unit has secured a 25-year hydropower concession in Laos. The 260MW run-of-river project will cost the firm about US$500mil (RM2.15bil) and the company planned to fund it using internally generated funds and long-term debt. Keep reading ...
Family of missing Laos activist Sombath Somphone reveal new evidence three years after disappearance
Fresh footage of an abducted activist’s classic American Jeep could crack open a three-year-old mystery in Laos, campaigners say. On 15 December 2012, Sombath Somphone was driving home when he was pulled over just metres from the Australian Embassy Recreation Club in the capital, Vientiane. Mr Sombath ...
Prohibited rosewood seized en route to China
Police in Oudomxay province last week seized some 47 rosewood timbers and 25 partially-processed rosewoods weighing 2,534 kilogrammes in total loaded inside the container-like truck, which carried a Vientiane number plate reportedly being transported from Vientiane en route to China, a provincial police official said on ...
Laos Increases Electricity Costs Despite Producing More Electricity
State-run power companies in Laos are raising electricity prices, putting a squeeze on businesses suffering from the coronavirus pandemic shutdown and angering customers who say they deserve cheaper power after a decades-long hydroelectric dam building boom, sources in the country told RFA. The government of Laos ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
US demands answers over missing Lao activist Sombath
The United States called for Laos to immediately resolve the case of prominent activist whose abduction three years ago sent a “chilling message” to civil society. The State Department statement came as the top US envoy for East Asia prepares to travel to communist-governed Laos, which ...
