Lao cuts airport project

HOUAPHANH The construction of Nong Khang International Airport in Houaphanh province has been suspended for financial reasons.

Lao News Agency reported the airport construction began in October 2013 and the project was originally scheduled for completion in October, this year.

Currently, only 32% of the construction has been completed, it news agency reported.

The agreement for the construction of the airport was signed between the Department of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and Vietnamese investor Hoang Anh Gia Lai in 2013.

It involved an investment of over USD74 million by Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group.

The Nong Khang International Airport is located in a remote area and it is difficult to transport construction material there.

The airport was supposed to occupy 183 hectares of land.

Currently, only helicopters and small planes use the old airport in Houaphanh, and occasionally there are charter flights by light aircraft. Weather conditions cause flight delays and cancellations as the old airport lacks modern navigational aids.

Houaphanh province is located in the far north of Laos.

It is the home to the Vieng Xay caves, an extensive network of caves used by the Pathet Lao during the second Indochina war, and the Hintang Archaeological Park, one of the most important pre-historic sites in northern Laos, dotted with standing megaliths.