Three Lao companies shortlisted for Vientiane expressway contract

Three Laotian companies have been shortlisted to carry out construction of an expressway linking Vientiane city centre to the outskirts, with the new road aimed at easing traffic congestion in the capital.

The 15-km expressway will run from Lao-ITECC in Xaysettha district to Dongmakkhai village in Xaythany district.The four-lane, 54-metre-wide road will be built parallel to Kaysone Phomvihane Road.

The nine companies that submitted bids for the project were scrutinised in line with the selection criteria. City authorities have now shortlisted three, Vientiane Vice Mayor Mr Keophilavanh Aphaylath told Vientiane Times on Monday.

“We will select only one company to carry out the project, which will be on the lines of the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model,” he said. This is a form of project financing wherein a private entity receives a concession from the private or public sector to finance, design, construct, own, and operate the facility stated in the concession contract.

The project is estimated to cost somewhere between US$150 million and US$200 million. The contractor will be required to complete the project before February 2021 to mark the 11th Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.

A 50-year concession agreement will be granted to the contracting company and can be extended under the Investment Promotion Law.

The road will be designed to carry vehicles travelling at speeds of 80-100 km per hour. It is proposed that passenger vehicles will pay a toll of 5,000 kip per journey, while larger vehicles will pay 10,000 kip. The fee will increase at some point in the future. Once the expressway is operational, it is expected that as many as 4,557 vehicles will use it each day to begin with, according to the project feasibility study. The number of road users is expected to rise further to 22,041 vehicles a day by 2024 and even higher in subsequent years.

At full capacity, the expressway could accommodate as many as 75,000 vehicles a day. 

Editor: Wang Shixue