Industries
Construction
Famous Tha Heua Fish Market Faces Abandonment Following Expressway Opening
Vang Vieng’s Tha Heua Market faces total abandonment after the expressway has caused motorists to bypass it when traveling to the resort town. According to a report by Vientiane Times, Tha Heua Market, popular with motorists entering Vang Vieng, is rapidly losing customers, with many vendors shutting down ...
Phayboune Thanabouasy
Thailand firm to build new urban centre with construction ministry
The construction ministry inked a deal with a Thai firm to build a US$1 billion “smart city” in northeastern Yangon. The JV agreement – signed last Friday – would pave way to more than 30,000 new jobs and US$60 million in direct tax, the two sides ...
Fifteen years' jail for construction deaths under new law
King Norodom Sihamoni has signed off on a new law that will see unlicensed construction company officials punished with a maximum of 15 years in prison if a worker is to die due to negligence. The Law on Construction, passed by the National Assembly and the ...
Long Kimmarita
Assembly passes construction bill
The National Assembly unanimously approved the Draft Law on Construction on Monday. It is meant to strengthen the management of building projects and consists of 22 chapters and 111 articles. The draft law has been years in the making with technical officials from the Ministry of ...
Mech Dara
Japanese firm replaces Chinese as financial partner in railway project
Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will act as financial partner for the Yangon Central Railway Station Development Project, replacing China’s Sino Great Wall as part of a consortium selected to implement the project, according to U Ba Myint, Managing Director of Myanma Railways. “Sumitomo approached us as a ...
Thina Ko Ko
Phnom Penh poor uprooted as lakes filled in for malls, flats
Lay Sremeth and her family have lived on a narrow stretch of land by Phnom Penh’s Boeung Tompoun lake for three decades, fishing in its water and growing rice on its bank. But shortly after authorities approved filling in parts of the lake with sand and ...
ASEAN’s megacities in danger
As megacities emerge across the globe, the ones in Asia remain among the fastest growing and cheapest places to build. These cities will continue to grow in size and affluence, due to ever-increasing urban populations. The United Nations (UN) describe megacities as urban areas with ...
Liyana Hasnan
Nearly 500 Families to be Displaced This Month for Laos’ Fifth Mekong River Dam
A new Mekong river dam in Laos’ Luang Prabang province will displace up to 465 families this month, the latest in the continuing trend of hydropower projects forcing villagers to relocate all over the country. Residents of 10 villages in Luang Prabang’s Chomphet district must be ...
Eugene Whong
Time is running out for sand
What links the building you live in, the glass you drink from and the computer you work on? Sand. It is a key ingredient of modern life and yet, astonishingly, no-one knows how much sand there is or how much is being mined. Sand and gravel ...
In Asia's space-starved cities, urban planners bring 'dead' land to life
Urban planners and authorities in fast expanding Asian cities are increasingly turning to unused land underneath bridges, flyovers and viaducts to create much-needed public spaces. With rapid urbanization, a construction boom in South and Southeast Asian cities is resulting in more offices, houses and apartments, ...