In August 1995, ADB approved a loan of $48 million to Lao PDR from ADB's Special Fund resources for the Champassak Road Improvement Project -- loan 1369.

The main objectives of the project are to:

provide continuous, all-weather road access for local and transit traffic between the Thai border at Chong Mek and the Cambodian border at Veune Kham via Pakse town,
support economic growth and employment generation, and thereby reduce poverty in the road influence area (RIA),
reduce transport costs for the project roads' traffic and thereby support agricultural, industrial, and tourism development in the RIA,
continue to support the Government's road maintenance program, and
further the privatization process in the road construction and maintenance industry through civil works contract package sizes that are also attractive to domestic bidders.

The project scope comprises:

improvement to bituminous standard of about 200 km of National Road (NR) 10 and NR13, including construction of 32 permanent bridges -- 1,355 linear meters -- providing access to Thailand and Cambodia via Pakse town in Champassak province,
improvement of a two-kilometer feeder road from NR13 to the Khong Island ferry terminal on the left bank of the Mekong River, and provision of concrete ferry ramps on both sides of the river,
rehabilitation of spur roads from NR13 to the Wat Phu ferry terminal on the Mekong River -- about 4 km -- including the provision of concrete ferry ramps on both sides of the river, to the Khone falls (about 2 km) and to Veune Kham port below the falls (about 8 km) on the Mekong River,
periodic road maintenance of about 400 km of important national and provincial roads, and
provision of consulting services for construction and maintenance supervision of the project, and detailed engineering of the Xieng Khouang Road Improvement.

The project forms part of the GMS road projects, R6: Southern Lao PDR-Sihanoukville Road Improvement Project, and R9: Northeastern Thailand-Southern Lao PDR-Northeastern Cambodia-Central Viet Nam Corridor Project.

Project Cost and Financing ($ million)

	Foreign	Local	Total
ADB	44.25	3.75	48.00
Government		12.10	12.10

Status

Completed.

For detailed information on project status, please email:

gms@adb.org