Mr Somdy Douangdy

Boutsadakham Litdavong

(KPL) “The Lao government will do its best in investing in a basic infrastructure system along the East-West Economic Corridor, especially Road No 9 in Laos to meet the ASEAN standards in order to facilitate the regional production network including trade, investment, transport and tourism,” said Mr Somdy Douangdy, the Minister of Planning and Investment.

 The road represents the government’s effort to create favourable conditions for commerce, investment and transportation for GMS countries, the minister noted.

“The road is very important for Laos because it represents Laos’ preparation for integration into the international and regional community and especially the AEC by the end of this year,” Mr Somdy said in an interview with KPL news early this month.  

He went on, “The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had noted that the progress of theEast-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) was more noticeable than other Economic Corridor projects. The corridor is currently 84 per cent complete.”

The other project, the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC), is 74 per cent complete.

“This is the first time for ADB to make a briefing evaluating progress of the economic corridors since construction began,” said Mr Somdy.

He went on, “It is part of Laos’ contribution to transport development in the sub-region.”

“ASEAN as well as GMS countries are keeping an eye on the construction of Road No 9 to determine whether it will be efficient, integrated and environmentally sustainable in ASEAN.”

The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) runs from Da Nang Port in Viet Nam, through the Lao PDR, Thailand, and to the Mawlamyine Port in Myanmar.

It extends a total of 1,320 km as a continuous land route between the Indian Ocean (Andaman Sea) and the South China Sea, intersecting the North-South Economic Corridor at the provinces of Tak and Phitsanulok in Thailand.

The length of Road No 9 is 241.6 km stretching from the Dansavan-Lao Bao International Border Checkpoint in Savannakhet to the Lao-Thai border.

Laos and Vietnam have recently launched a one-stop service to handle both customs and immigration requirements at the Dansavan-Lao Bao border checkpoint. The possibility of launching other one-stop services is being studied for other border checkpoints.

“We are now waiting for neighbouring countries who share borders with us to approve relevant legal instruments and laws in order to facilitate the flow of trade and people-to-people communication,” said Minister Somdy.
He added, “Thailand approved legal mechanisms for implementing one-stop service at the Lao-Thai border checkpoint in March and is ready to launch such a service soon.”

“Road No 9 will bring Laos to broader markets and people will benefit from this transport connectivity as it will help promote growth in local business communities along the corridor.” 

“It is a response by the Party to the “Sam Sang” policy to help improve and upgrade living conditions for Lao people,” said the minister.

KPL