2.3 Laos Road Assessment
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2.3 Laos Road Assessment Roads overview Summary of Roles and Services Road Construction / Maintenance Road Classification Distance matrix Road security and accidents Weighbridges Axle Load Limits Bridges Transport Corridors International corridors leading to the Country Main corridors within the Country (leading to main towns / hubs) Page 1 Page 2 Of the defined total road system of some 30,000 plus kilometers, only some 15% are paved. This may be given the low traffic volumes and predominance of two and three-wheeled vehicles. The usage of provincial and district road network is restricted during the rainy season. Less that 60% of district centers have year-round access. Roads overview Laos is a land locked country, and therefore relies on its neighbours, Vietnam and Thailand, for sea port services. Most of WFP’s commodities are imported through Bangkok, Thailand. Transport infrastructure in the Lao PDR is at an early stage of development as demonstrated by the Lao PDR’s road density of 6.1 km per 1,000 people as well as by the road quality.. In addition, the general demands on the transport infrastructure are low, since traffic levels on the national network (except near Vientiane and Savannakhet) are below 1,000 average annual daily traffic and below 500 average annual daily traffic on most other networks. However, demand has been increasing over the years at an annual rate of 5%–8% for goods and 8%–10% for passengers, indicating a rise in line with economic growth. A majority of the roads are impassable during the rainy season. (Source: Statistical Year Book Lao PDR 2014, MPI) The Lao road network is estimated at about 46,000 Km, with only 28% paved. In general more than 60% of the total national roads are classified as in poor or bad condition. Most of the provincial and district roads are inaccessible during the rainy season. It is estimated that more than 40% of villages are 6 kilometers or more from a main road and nearly half are nor accessible during the rainy seasons. Road transport is the most used mode for freight transport, accounting for more than 80 percent of total freight transport. Summary of Roles and Services In accordance with Prime Ministerial Decree 66/PM of 1999, the Ministry of Public Work and Transport (formerly known as Ministry of Communications, Transport, Post and Construction) is the state management organisation responsible for the management of land, water, air, transport, post and telecommunication and urban and rural housing throughout the country. The duties of the Ministry include: 1. Studying and developing the party and government's policy on land, water, air transport, communications, housing and urban planning in order to develop strategic plans, policy advice and detailed urban and rural development plans in each planning period, supervising their implementation in order to ensure efficiency and success; 2. Studying and defining regulations and laws for the organisations managing land, water, air, transport, communications, housing and urban planning and their activities; 3. Studying and seeking domestic and foreign funds to improve and extend networks of land, water, air, transport, communications, housing and urban planning in accordance with government development plans; 4. Establishing the plan and managing the implementation of the budget, finance and accounting in the sector; 5. Inspecting, overseeing and managing the activities of the organisations and business units within the sector in accordance with regulations and laws; 6. summarising and evaluating the implementation of plans, analysing communication systems, housing and urban planning in order to discover, develop and promote successful outcomes as well as discovering the disadvantages in order to resolve problems in time, summarising statistical data concerning communications, housing and urban planning for official use; 7. Managing land, water, air, transport, communications, housing and urban planning transport and machinery; 8. Studying and using the system of working methods of the Ministry to manage regulations concerning the organisational structure and civil servant numbers within the sector; 9. Educating, training, creating, reshuffling, managing and implementing incentives policies for civil servants within the sector in accordance with party and government policy; and 10. Concentrating on research, promoting creative ideas and applying new scientific and technical advances to the sector. The Ministry composes of the following offices and departments: Road Construction / Maintenance Lao government continues to depend upon the support of its development partners including World Bank, Asia Development Bank, SIDA, Japan/JICA, OPEC, IFAD, KFW, UNCDF and EU to implement rehabitation/reconstruction project in the transport sector. The costs of extending, upgrading and maintaining the transport system are very high The road maintenance fund (RMF), established under Decree Number No. 09/PM, 2001, is designed to ensure a sufficient and stable domestics source of revenue for road maintenance. Under the decree, 10% of RMF annual revenue is allocated to local road network (provincial, district and commodity roads), 0.5% to road safety programme, and up to 90%, after allowing administration cost of the fund, to national road. Preservation and development of the Lao PDR road network, which sits centrally in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) network, is crucial to national and regional integration. However, the country’s low population density and varied topography increase the cost and complexity of meeting travel needs. The very poor live in remote, usually upland, areas where infrastructure is limited. Improvements in rural accessibility and strengthening of the provincial, district, and community road network to all-weather standards were identified as priorities in the National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategy of 2004, which sets out the government’s policy for poverty reduction. Continued economic growth, including growth in subregional trade, will generate an increasing demand for travel and a corresponding need for improvement of transport infrastructure. Growth in freight transport demand is likely to be broadly similar to the rate of economic growth, and passenger travel is likely to increase at a similar or slightly faster rate. With economic growth of 7%–8% per annum anticipated in the medium term, considerable additional transport demand will need to be accommodated in the future. Page 3 Cost per km for different surface type and standard of road Cost estimations below are for road improvement/expansion, new bridge construction, land acquisition and safety measurement. The applied unit rate is from the 2012 unit rate of Ministry of Public Works and Transport. According to the road design standards of the MPWT, the width of a four lane road is 32 meters and the width of a two lane road is 18 meters in total. The cost estimats below are for road improvement/expansion, new bridge construction, land acquisition and safety measurement. The applied unit rate is from the 2012 unit rate of Ministry of Public Works and Transport. Four Lane Road Two Lane Road Section Distance (Km) Asphalt Concrete Road Concrete Road Asphalt Concrete Road Concrete Road Cost per Km ($) Cost per Km ($) Cost per Km ($) Cost per Km ($) Vientiane-Phonthong 60 1,694,175 3,415,677 692,853 1,824,433 Vientiane-BanHai 43 2,289,738 4,020,431 938,277 2,074,154 Vientiane-Paksan 129 1,870,318 3,611,753 760,471 1,905,154 Average cost per Km 1,951,410 3,682,620 797,200 1,934,581 Source: Moving Forward: Developing Highway PPPs in Lao PDR, PPIAF, 2013 Road Classification Breakdown of Surface Types of Roads in Laos Road Types National Provincial District Rural Urban Rural Special Total Concrete 48 39 9 113 2 11 222 Asphalt concrete 600 38 8 87 2 735 Paved 4,631 902 277 683 185 212 6,889 Gravel 1,628 4,596 3,319 909 5,439 470 16,360 Earth 470 2,635 2,032 424 14,632 1,428 21,619 Total 7,378 8,209 5,643 2,216 20,258 2,123 45,825 Source: Department of Roads, Ministry of Public Works and transport (2013) Distance matrix Page 4 Source: http://www.immigration.gov.la/distance.html ) TRAVEL TIME FROM CAPITAL CITY TO MAJOR TOWNS (hours / Days) Oudomxay Luangpabang Xiengkhuang Khammouan Savannaket Champasak Saravan Vientiane 7 hours Vientiane 7 hours Vientiane 7 hour Vientiane 4 hours Vientiane 6 hours Vientiane 10 hour Vientiane 12 hours Road security and accidents Traveling in Laos is generally safe with exception of some areas in the North where precaution should be taken. UN Humanitarian missions to be briefed by UNDSS before travel. Field staff to be informed by local authorities. Vehicles often do not have lights and animals stray on to the roads. The number of road accidents in Laos has risen sharply in recent years along with the increase in the number of motor vehicles, especially motorbikes. Weighbridges Weighbridges are supervised by the Department of Transport under Ministry of Public Work and Transport. Unfortunately, existing weigh stations on national roads do not adequately enforce vehicle axle controls, while provincial and rural roads lack such stations. Page 5 Weigh stations do not generally inspect vehicles for dimension limits or roadworthiness, and there does not appear to be any existing procedures for testing and certification of weighing devices used for the enforcement of vehicle weights. Truck overloading, although having significantly declined in recent years due to increased enforcement, is a problem in some areas, for example,