Laos vows troubled Asean rail link will not hit the buffers
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Despite delays, the government is committed to forging ahead with the US$7 billion Laos-China rail project, says Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad.
The deputy PM was responding on Friday to questions in the National Assembly (NA) over delays to the project.
Vientiane and Beijing are currently in negotiations to realise the 421km-long railway, which will link Vientiane and the Lao-Chinese border.
“Yesterday [Thursday], I welcomed the new Chinese ambassador to Laos and I proposed that he ask Beijing about my intention to visit there in August for negotiations,” he told NA members.
The deputy premier confirmed that there had been a binding agreement by both sides to develop the project.
In April this year, Minister of Public Works and Transport Sommad Pholsena also confirmed to local media that the project would go ahead, saying “there are no obstacles” to the project’s development, despite the fact that the two governments were still in negotiations over the rail link.
Dates to begin construction work and complete the project have not been announced, after initial dates of 2011 for ground-breaking and 2015 for completion were scrapped – reportedly because the Chinese construction company pulled out. However, the Lao government is determined to bring the project to fruition and still hopes to obtain financing from Beijing.
In this regard, the NA approved a “go-ahead bill” at an extraordinary session held last October.
Sommad was unable to confirm whether Laos would be the sole investor in the project, using a loan from Beijing, as reported at the NA’s extraordinary session.
The project aims to form part of the Asean-China rail link, running from Yunnan province in China southwards to Singapore through Laos and Thailand.
The original plan had passenger trains running at speeds of up to 200kph but Vientiane has reduced this to 160kph for safety reasons, partly due to the hilly terrain. Goods trains, meanwhile, will travel at a maximum speed of 120kph, according to a report presented at the NA’s extraordinary session.
Passenger trains may be able to reach a speed of 200kph between Vientiane and Vangvieng where the land is relatively flat, the report said.
