Officials in Laos are considering allowing public-private partnership ventures to build freeways or tollways in the country as part of efforts to upgrade road infrastructure.
“The World Bank is providing financial support for us to conduct a feasibility study into allowing public- private partnerships to build highways in the country,” Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport, Mr Lattanamany Kounnyvong told Vientiane Times on Friday.
He said the ministry could not come up with details of the partnership on the highway development since they have to wait for the official results of the study. However, he said the cooperation project would not be any different from what other countries are doing.
According to a source, the study concept is that the joint venture will develop Road No 13 North from Vientiane to Vangvieng in Vientiane province and Road No 13 South from Vientiane to Pakxan, Borikhamxay province.
The two sections of highway will be upgraded to either four or six lanes as part of efforts to reduce traffic jams along the roads.
However the joint venture would require the levying of toll fees to refund the cost of construction. The early proposed fee for a car is about 800 kip per km.
Mr Lattanamany said that one of issues which the study must focus on is whether it is possible for the joint venture to collect toll fees to refund the highway construction.
There would be numerous problems to overcome, such as how to enforce toll collection, whether to restrict access to the road, and how to make it fair for local residents using the road regularly and what to do about people who wouldn't be able to pay the toll.
However observers said that they believed it was possible for joint ventures to make business in the development of tollways in Laos as the country is located in the middle of region therefore it has to act as regional land bridge.
They said that the increasing flow of goods and tourists through the region will drive the future development of highways in Laos, as is the increasing traffic volume as the vehicle fleet continues to expand.
According to a report from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, there are more than one million vehicles in Laos. The number of vehicles has seen a rapid increase after the government allowed car dealers to offer repayment plans, making the purchase of vehicles more affordable.
The Lao government has invested large amounts of money to build roads and bridges as part of its efforts to prepare itself for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
Despite the efforts, road development in the country still lags behind others in the region. Many officials say that allowing public private partnerships to develop tollways would help the country to address corruption in infrastructure development.
Changing the structure of how private companies are repaid for their investment in construction projects would perhaps limit opportunities for graft. Via the current model, private companies invest money upfront but overinflate the cost of the project in order to pay off officials in the government, which is then shouldered with the burden of the overinflated repayment costs.
The distance from Vientiane to Paksan is about 150km. If they want to collect toll fee 800kip per kilometer for a car, then you have to pay 120,000kip to drive your car to Paksan. That is too expensive and you may pay the fee again when you return to Vientiane. Sorry, I don't have Lao font.
However the joint venture would require the levying of toll fees to refund the cost of construction. The early proposed fee for a car is about 800 kip per km.
If they want to collect toll fee 800kip per kilometer for a car, then you have to pay 120,000kip to drive your car to Paksan.
However the joint venture would require the levying of toll fees to refund the cost of construction. The early proposed fee for a car is about 800 kip per km.
If they want to collect toll fee 800kip per kilometer for a car, then you have to pay 120,000kip to drive your car to Paksan.
it's crazy thought... yeah ! it's an other kind of corruption : paying pot of wine to the corrupted officials to get the concession and collecting the wine pot + motorway fee from tusi tusa who pay without question... good laos, go on looking down on lao people ...
