Laos-China Railway

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The project involves the construction and operation of 414KM high speed railway between Mohan/Boten, China-Laos border cities, and Vientiane, the capital of Lao PDR. The railway will have a designed speed of 160 KM/h for passenger transport and 120 KM/h for freight transport. The line will have 31 stations, more than 70 tunnels and 150 bridges. The project is part of Chinese government’s Belt and Road initiative and the Boten-Vientiane section is part of the Kunming-Singapore Railway Project which starts from Kunming, the capital of China's Yunnan province and ends in Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. On 13 November 2015, the Chinese and Lao governments signed an intergovernmental cooperation agreement in Beijing, and the China-Laos railway project officially entered into implementation stage. The project company Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. is established as a joint venture between the governments of China and Laos, holding 70% and 30% stakes respectively via state-owned entities (SOE). The SOEs include: Lao National Railway Company; Yunan Investment Group (the investment company of Yunnan province); an affiliate of the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation; and China Railway Group, which is a lead participant in the project providing the majority of the construction work. The project cost amounts to approximately CNY 40 billion or $ 6 billion. China Export-Import Bank provided debt financing covering around 60% of the cost (around $3.6 billion) and the approval of the financing plan was announced in October 2019. The remaining 40% of the cost amounting to $2.4 billion is funded with equity from the SPV, funded as follows: Lao government has committed to provide $ 730 million ($ 250 million from state budget and $480 million from the Export-Import Bank of China), while China will provide the remaining $1.67 billion. Construction officially began on 25 December 2016 and is expected to complete in December 2021. As of December 2019, the construction is 78% complete. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/kunming-vientiane-railway-economic-procurement-labor-and-safeguards-dimensions-chinese.pdf http://www.lcrc.ltd/newsdetails.htm?newsid=55 http://english.www.gov.cn/news/international_exchanges/2016/12/25/content_281475524680610.htm https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%AD%E8%80%81%E9%93%81%E8%B7%AF/1899470?fr=aladdin http://www.junzejun.com/News/172727a50becd8-a.html http://www.thecover.cn/news/1562462 http://www.gov.cn/zhengce/2015-12/07/content_5020638.htm https://www.iseas.edu.sg/images/pdf/ISEAS_Perspective_2019_101.pdf http://www.eximbank.gov.cn/info/circus/201810/t20181022_7102.html http://www.lcrc.ltd/introduce.html