News
Nong Khang Airport Sees its First Successful Aircraft Landing
The Nong Khang Airport has been under construction since 2013 and is built according to safety standards set by the Department of Civil Aviation (MOS 2009) and international standards (ICAO). This airport has reference code 3C (Aerodrome Code 3C) and could accommodate 70-100-seat aircraft, such ...
Phontham Visapra
Historic cross-border passenger trains travel between Vientiane and Kunming
The first train (named Lane Xang) making a direct journey from Vientiane to Kunming in China on the Laos-China railway left the Lao capital on Thursday morning. The launch of the direct cross-border service took place in Vientiane and at the Boten border checkpoint in ...
Times Reporters
Champassak bans planting of soil-degrading crops in Pakxong
A new directive issued by Champassak authorities has banned the cultivation of crops and trees that are likely to deteriorate soil quality in the coffee-rich Pakxong district, part of the Bolaven Plateau. The banned crops include cassava, large bananas (kuay hom), Jatropha, and eucalyptus.A 12-page ...
Times Reporters
Authorities Counsel Forest Fire Offenders in Vientiane
Last week, the Vientiane Province government counseled 65 locals who were caught burning forest land in Phou Phanang National Bio-Diversity Conservation Area to reeducate and raise awareness on the harmful long-term effects of illegal logging and deforestation. The group was sent to a training and ...
Phontham Visapra
Pak Lay and Luang Prabang dam Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs): Who benefits?
As media attention focused on the dissolution of the parliament to prepare for the upcoming national election, news that a Power Purchase Agreement with Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was signed for the Pak Lay dam slipped by without making much of a ripple. ...
Pianporn Deetes
Fire in Phou Phanang Forest Contained After Nine Grueling Days
The fire, which was caused by agricultural burning in the area, had spread to 17 different villages in the Sangthong district, causing damage to an area of around 120 hectares of woodland.Around 600 people, including officials and local residents, were mobilized on 20 March to ...
Jonathan Meadley
The Last Days of Beautiful Luang Prabang: UNESCO experts insist that a huge dam would destroy the “authenticity and integrity” of the World Heritage Site in Laos.
Construction has just started on a huge dam just 25 kilometers upstream from the heritage town, and only four kilometers from the revered Buddhist shrines hidden inside the Pak Ou caves.Satellite information from the Stimson Center’s Mekong Dam Monitor proved that these warnings have been ignored, and ...
Tom Fawthrop
National Industrial Park Launched in Cooperation With Asia-Potash International
The government and SINO-AGRI International Potash Co., Ltd. (SINO-KCL) signed the MOU in Vientiane, indicating that the government-enterprise cooperation project is about to get off the ground after more than one year’s preparation. The project aims to promote industrialization, urbanization and investment in Laos while modernizing ...
Advertorial Desk
Cassava Boom Leading to Deforestation, Air Pollution in Laos
The demand for cassava has seen it become the most profitable agricultural product in Laos, as demonstrated by the country’s February trade figures: cassava was the leading export item, with figures totaling USD 85 million. Laos exports most of its cassava to Thailand and Vietnam, where ...
Manyphone Vongphachanh
Laos Marked as “Country of Concern” for Food Security
According to the report, around 71,000 people had severe acute food insecurity, while 1.4 people were estimated to have moderate levels of food insecurity.Laos was marked as a “country of concern” in August last year after being threatened by food insecurity, according to a 2022 ...
Jonathan Meadley
