What is the cost of this aggressive infrastructure development? What do we know about the people and places that are negatively impacted by these large-scale projects? In Laos, the government has placed enormous emphasis on infrastructure expansion as a mechanism for driving economic growth and poverty alleviation. Yet this infrastructure rollout has come at severe social and environmental costs.
Category: Laos
Hundreds of families forced to move for Lao coal plant expansion
“We’re still staying in our homes in our village and farming our own land for now because nothing has happened yet, but when we move to the resettlement village, where are we going to farm?”a resident said.
Laos govt approves Vientiane-Pakse expressway route selection
The Vientiane-Pakse Expressway, being undertaken by Chinese companies, will have a length of about 578.6 km is estimated to cost around US$5.1 billion for its construction.
Chinese SEZ’s in Lower Mekong region hotspots for wildlife trafficking, surveys say
From 2019 to 2020, market surveys from wildlife trade watchdog TRAFFIC found close to 78,000 illegal wildlife parts and products on sale in more than 1,000 outlets across Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Housing for Attapeu flood victims now over 60 percent complete
ome 505 new homes have been completed for flood victims in Attapeu following the dam collapse of 2018.
Lancang-Mekong Sweet Spring Project brings Lao villagers safe drinking water
China is carrying out the Lancang-Mekong Sweet Spring Project to bring local villagers in northern Laos safe drinking water and to promote socio-economic development, the Chinese Consulate-General in Luang Prabang.
Villagers displaced by Laos’ Nam Ngum 4 Dam say compensation is not enough
“We lost all of our homes and farmland for only 84 million kip [1 million kip = US$100] per hectare [2.5 acres],” a landowner in the province’s Phoukout district said. “We inherited the rice field from our ancestors.”
New minister reassures MRC of Lao cooperation for responsible development of Mekong Basin
Bounkham Vorachit, who was appointed Minister in March this year and is now the MRC Council Member for Lao PDR, told MRC Secretariat CEO An Pich Hatda during their online meeting last Thursday that the country was fully committed to the principles and objectives of sustainable development under the MRC cooperation.
Nam Ou River Basin Power Company hands over drinking water purification project to Hatkeep villagers
Mr Zhigong expressed the hope that the Lao government would continue to strengthen its key support and assistance to the Nam Ou River Project, so that the rich hydropower resources of the Nam Ou River could be transformed into rich social and economic benefits, and contribute to the rapid economic development of northern Laos and the friendly cooperation between China and Laos.
Laos establishes task force to police social media platforms
Recent years have also seen an upswing of surveillance and persecution of Lao citizens for critical comments posted online. A representative case was the September 2019 arrest of the social media influencer Houayheuang Xayabouly, then 30, also known as Muay, who was detained after she posted a video on Facebook criticizing the government’s delayed response to floods caused by a dam collapse. She was subsequently sentenced to five years imprisonment.