Prime Minister Phankham Viphavan and his Thai counterpart Prayut Chan-o-cha and senior officials of both countries took part in a groundbreaking ceremony for the 5th Lao-Thai Friendship Mekong Bridge. The bridge will spand the Mekong River between Pakxan district in Borikhamxay of Laos and Bueng Kan province in northeastern Thailand.
“The bridge is being built over the Mekong River and has a total length of 1,350 meters. It is expected to be fully completed in 2024 and boost trade and investment between Laos and Thailand,” said Minister of Public Works and Transports Viengsavath Siphandone.
“The Lao-Thai Mekong Bridge Construction project is also among projects under the 5-year action plan on strategic partnership for growth and sustainable development (2022-2026) the two countries signed in June 2022,” said Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh.
“On behalf of the government and people of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, I would like to express my gratitude to the government and people of the Kingdom of Thailand as well as the Neighboring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) for providing loans for the bridge construction, which is one of the efforts of the two governments of Laos and Thailand to develop transportation corridor connecting Thailand with many Vietnamese cities via Laos and also provide connectivity to China’s Guangxi Province,” said Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh.
The project was agreed on in August 2019 with Thailand’s Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) loaning the Lao government 1.38 billion baht.
Source: Lao News Agency