Urban administration and development

The capital of Laos is a low-rise, low-key city, especially when compared with the hulking high-rises and bustling streets of better-known Southeast Asian cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. But this once-sleepy city is fast shedding its sedate reputation due to a building boom ...

A collection of houses and other structures belonging to nine families living alongside a canal in the capital’s Russey Keo district was destroyed on 18 January by a large group of men sent by local authorities. The Beung Salang villagers had been previously told to vacate a ...

City Hall has warned Phnom Penh’s sole waste management firm that it has just one more opportunity to lift its game before its oft-criticised contract comes under threat. Following a meeting on 12 January between Cintri and local authorities to review the firm’s performance, Ieng Aunny, deputy ...

Tent-dwellers on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River in Mandalay may soon be exchanging their canvas walls for bricks and mortar, as the regional government seeks tenants for newly completed low-cost housing. The Mandalay Region government has decided not to charge would-be tenants a deposit amounting ...

Hanoi aims to reduce up to 10 traffic congestion hotspots and limit the duration of traffic jams to less than 30 minutes, People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung said. Speaking at a conference on ensuring traffic order during the Lunar New Year Festival, Chung said traffic ...

U Than Htwe and Daw Kay Thi Tun are among the millions of commuters who find themselves spending hours on Yangon’s old and overburdened public transport system every day, a routine that takes its toll on the health, well-being and income of the city’s residents. Without ...

Luang Prabang provincial authorities have plans to expand the town to ease traffic congestion and in response to the increasing number of tourists to the World Heritage site. The Luang Prabang town expansion project covers 100 hectares of land starting from Donkeo village to Luang Prabang ...

Ho Chi Minh City now has 7.43 million motorbikes, putting serious pressure on its transport infrastructure, local media reported, citing the Department of Transport.    Compared to 2011, the number of new bikes registered in the city has increased by around 2 million, according to a Tuoi Tre ...

The government is failing to enforce, or even make landlords and tenants aware of, the new rent-control law, even as rents begin to creep up in anticipation of garment workers receiving their annual wage raise next month, labour advocates say. The legislation, which went into effect ...

Road deaths need to be cut by 2000 a year or they will exceed regional targets, a new traffic-safety NGO says. ASEAN has called on member countries to reduce road deaths by half over the next five years, and the Myanmar Organisation for Road Safety, which ...