A new US$6 billion Chinese-built railway line opens in Laos this week, bringing hopes of an economic boost to the reclusive nation, but experts are questioning the benefits of a project that has seen thousands of farmers evicted from their land.
The 414km route, due to open on Friday, took five years to construct under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which funds infrastructure projects aimed at increasing Beijing’s clout globally.
Struggling strawberry farmer Anouphon Phomhacsar is hoping the new railway will get his business back on track.
Photo: AFP / Lao National TV via AFPTV
His farm usually produces up to 2 tonnes of the red heart-shaped fruits a year, but the COVID-19 pandemic has hit this year’s harvest hard.
It takes Phomhacsar three to four hours to send his strawberries to Vientiane by road, but he hopes the new railway will cut this delivery time in half.
He says it would also be easier for tourists to travel to camp under the stars and pick berries.
“In the future, foreign tourists coming to the farm could be in the tens of thousands,” he told reporters.
The train route is to connect the Chinese city of Kunming to the Laotian capital, with grand plans for high-speed rail to ultimately snake down through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore.
Infrastructure-poor Laos, a reclusive communist-run country of 7.2 million people, previously had only 4km of railway tracks.
However, now, sleek red-blue-and-white bullet trains are to speed along the new line at up to 160kph, passing through 75 tunnels and across 167 bridges, stopping at 10 passenger stations.
Despite registering only dozens of COVID-19 cases until April, Laos’ economy took a pandemic battering — economic growth declined to 0.4 percent this year, the lowest level in three decades, according to the World Bank.
Hopes for a rebound this year were dashed — Laos locked down as it clocked up about 70,000 infections in the past eight months.
While the railway could boost tourism, freight and agriculture, according to a World Bank report, the government needs to undertake substantial reforms, including improving border clearance processes.
“The new railway is a major investment that has the potential to stimulate the Lao economy and allow the country to take advantage of its geographical position at the heart of mainland Southeast Asia,” Sombath Southivong, a senior World Bank infrastructure specialist, told reporters.
The tourism industry is desperate for a pick-me-up after the pandemic caused an 80 percent downturn in international traveler numbers last year — 4.7 million foreign tourists visited the previous year.
Pre-pandemic young nomads crammed on to buses at Vientiane for the four-hour ride to adventure capital Vang Vieng — a journey that would take about an hour by train.
The town, which has a former CIA airstrip, was notorious for backpackers behaving badly at jungle parties before it rebranded as an eco-tourism destination.
However, the kayaks, river rafts, ziplines and hot-air balloons have been empty of late.
Inthira — a boutique hotel nestled on the banks of the Nam Song River — shifted from a full occupancy rate to only a trickle of domestic travelers on weekends, general manager Oscar Tality said.
Tality hopes the railway and reduced travel times will give the industry a shot in the arm.
“Along the way people will see magnificent views of the mountains and will cross over bridges and tunnels. It will be a wonderful trip for those on the train,” Tality told reporters.
Despite local optimism, some Laos watchers are concerned about the long-term viability of the project.
“The issue for Laos though is whether their economy ... their private sector is positioned to take advantage of this transport system,” Australian National University lecturer Greg Raymond told reporters.
Two-thirds of Laotians live in rural villages toiling on the land, and the minimum wage is about US$116 a month — a reported US$13.30 train fare from Vientiane to the border town of Boten has attracted some social media criticism for being too expensive.
“When you look at the juxtaposition of this super-modern railway and the countryside it is passing through — it’s very stark. One does wonder whether the Laos people will be the beneficiaries?” Raymond said.
The project has left about 4,400 farmers and villagers reeling after they were forced to surrender land.
Many have faced long delays receiving compensation or have been paid inadequate amounts, the Lao Movement for Human Rights said in a report.
“The compensation rate is very low. If you are asking villagers to move, how can they afford new land?” Laotian lawmaker Vilay Phommixay told parliament in June last year.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS