Some US$42.3 million will be spent to improve roads in the northern provinces of Huaphan and Xieng Khuang.
Bids are being invited from companies wishing to undertake the project.
Deputy Director of Huaphan provincial Public Works and Transport Department Mr Phonesouk Inthavong told Vientiane Times on Monday “The survey and design phases of the project are expected to start early next year once the bidding has been finalised.”
A road snakes its way through northern Laos.
Of the US$42.3 million required for the road upgrades, US$20 million will be sourced as a grant from the Asian Development Bank.
The Lao government will provide another US$10.3 million in the form of a low interest loan from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The roads to be upgraded are Nos. 6A, 6B and 6, which run from the Hanglong area to Xopbao district in Huaphan province.
Mr Phonesouk said “In Xopbao district we will also build a concrete bridge that will cross the Nam Ma River and a road from Xopbao district to the Pahang Lao-Viet border crossing.”
The road will extend through Kham district in Xieng Khuang province and Viengxay district in Huaphan province. This road is 263km long and has 1,200 bends.
The road will be straightened to reduce the number of accidents and widened from 4m to 6m.
“Several buses travelling from Vientiane to the northern provinces, including Huaphan, use this road on a daily basis. It takes 10-11 hours to travel between Xieng Khuang and Huaphan provinces, largely because of all the hairpin bends and steep downhill gra dients. It is an unpleasant journey for anyone who gets travel sick. If some of the sharp bends can be eliminated, accidents and travel time will be reduced. With a straighter road it will take only about 5 hours to do the journey,” Mr Phonesouk said.
Viengxay district in Huaphan province shares a border crossing with Vietnam at the Namsoy international checkpoint, the main border crossing in the province.
Huaphan province shares a 600km border with the Vietnamese provinces of Thanh Hoa, Son La and Nghe An.
The province is home to about 22 ethnicities, predominantly the Tai Khao, as well as the Tai Daeng, Tai Meuang, Tai Neua, Phou Noi, Hmong, Khmu and Vietnamese.
Poverty in Huaphan provi nce accounts for 50 percent of the national total and is most severe in remote districts such as Xamtay, Viengthong, Xopbao, and Huameuang.
