Residents await Laos-China railway compensation payments
Preliminary counts have been completed in the provinces through which the Laos-China railway will pass, to pave the way for compensation to be paid to the affected villagers and residents who will be relocated. However affected residents in the provinces through which the railway will pass, and particularly the owners of parcels of land and buildings that will be used or demolished to make way for the railway, have yet to receive any compensation. Director of the Luang Prabang provincial Public Works and Transport Department, Mr Fasanan Thammavong, told the press in the prefecture that the preliminary surveys for the affected people and counts for compensation payments have already been completed. The compensation to be paid for property owners in Luang Prabang has still not been approved by the Laos-China railway project’s committee, Mr Fasanan said. The railway bridge will be part of the planned 427-km Laos-China railway running from the Chinese border to Vientiane through the four provinces of Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang, and Vientiane to the capital and linking to the Thai border.