Infrastructure
New group aims to help cut Myanmar road deaths by half
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 ...
Mekong area needs $3.8b for projects
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region will need more than VND86.3 trillion (US$3.83 billion) in the 2016-20 period to develop key infrastructure projects to fuel its economic growth, according to the Ministry of Transport. Around VND65 trillion ($2.8 billion) of the total funding will go to ...
Rate of water accidents still high
Domestic waterways play a critical role in passenger and cargo transport in the Mekong Delta, but the rate of accidents remains at a high level due to lack of attention from local and related authorities. Speaking at a seminar on waterway safety held in the Delta ...
Motorists taking shortcut to Xieng Khuang, Huaphan
More people from Vientiane and the southern provinces travelling to Xieng Khuang and Huaphan will use the road through Borikhamxay province once an upgrade to a damaged section is complete because it cuts significant time from the journey. A resident of Xieng Khuang province’s Paek district, ...
Vietnam state firms sit on mountain of foreign debt
A new report from the Vietnam government says power monopoly Electricity of Vietnam tops the list of entities with foreign debts with debts of VND162 trillion (US$7.2 billion) as of the end of 2014. Vietnam last year signed 41 agreements for $4.7 billion worth of official development ...
Organiser arrested over march
The organiser of a protest by community members who face eviction from their homes to make way for a railway project in Banteay Meanchey province was detained on 14 December after demonstrators burned an effigy and dragged its decapitated body through the streets. About 50 protesters marched ...
Vietnam shipyard launches $230m oil rig
PetroVietnam Marine Shipyard JSC in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, launched a US$230-million jackup rig 13 December. Tam Dao 05 weighs 18,000 tons and can drill to a depth of nine kilometers. Keep reading ...
Thai PM tells SRT to make mass-transit rail more affordable
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) on 14 December to make fares on new mass-transit rail lines affordable for the poor. Presiding over the start the test runs for the for the Purple Line between Bang Yai and Tao Poon, Gen Prayut said ...
In light or dark, operations must go on
A photo that was widely circulated on social media this week cast a light onto the sometimes extreme measures taken in Myanmar’s public health sector. In the midst of an electrical blackout, doctors were seen performing an operation at the Mandalay Central Women’s Hospital by ...
BBC Burmese channel slammed
BBC Burmese channel has drawn heavy criticism for its radio programme slotted for 12 December, as locals view it as an attempt to revive social division. The outcry followed BBC’s invitation on Facebook for locals to participate its programme titled “Should ex-Senior General Than Shwe be ...
