Laos still struggling to bring roads up to Asean standards
Laos still struggling to bring roads up to Asean standards
Laos is still facing many challenges when it comes to upgrading its major roads to Asean standards, which is necessary to facilitate regional transportation and integration with the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
Minister of Public Works and Transport Dr Bounchan Sinthavong was quoted in the Lao Economic Daily recently as saying that the standard of many roads built in Laos is still below Asean standards as the country has limited funding to build roads up to the required specifications.
The minister said the roads in many Asean member countries are able to accommodate trucks loading goods at 11 tonnes per axle while roads in Laos can accommodate only 9.1 tonnes per axle.
Currently even the national roads are paved with two layers of asphalt some 2-3cm thick, which is considered inferior in comparison to other Asean nations.
Dr Bounchan said the main challenge for the government is sourcing more funding to maintain the national routes to ensure that the existing roads can serve the economic integration of the region.
“In fact we need about 480 billion kip annually to restore and maintain the existing national roads but in 2013-14 fiscal year, we got only 238 billion kip which equated to only 59 percent of what was required,” the minister said.
Laos is among the most mountainous countries in the region. It has a road network with a total length of 43,000 km, of which some 7,200km are national roads.
The country's development began after national liberation in 1975 with limited infrastructure and so a lot of funding in required to build more roads and other necessary infrastructure to serve commercial production.
The road network is the principle means of transport in Laos, which lacks a national railway, so all goods being shipped either north or south must travel by road, with the exception of some river freight to and from China.
Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong said at a meeting of public works and transport officials in Vientiane in 2012 that the improvement of the road network to link Laos with its neighbours is a key priority of the government.
Without the improvement of the road network, Laos will lose the potential benefits of being a transit country linking the five countries of China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar.
The PM said the government is very concerned about the poor road conditions in Laos as the Asean Economic Community is coming closer to establishment in 2015.
However in recent times the government has faced rising financial difficulties since the national revenue shortfall which emerged last fiscal year.
Over the first quarter of this fiscal year, the government was able to collect only 12 percent of the annual revenue plan. The shortfall has delayed many road projects.
Given that Laos is becoming more integrated with the rest of the region and the roads will therefore be carrying more freight traffic, the concerned sectors are considering upgrading the existing national roads.
Ministry of Public Works and Transport officials are currently examining the possibility of resurfacing them with roasted asphalt, which is much more durable.
vientiane times
