The foundation stone laying ceremony of the fifth Laos-Thai Friendship Bridge will be attended by the Prime Ministers of both countries this Friday.
Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will attend the ceremony in Bolikhamxay with their respective delegations. The bridge will connect the Bueng Kan district in Thailand and Bolikhamxay province in Laos.
The two PMs are also likely to discuss ways to strengthen both bilateral and multilateral ties between Laos and Thailand.
The 5th Lao-Thai Friendship between Bolikhamxay and Bueng Kan finished wrapped up over half of its construction in August this year. The entire construction is expected to be completed by April 2024.
The bridge is being built over the Mekong river and has a total length of 535 meters on the Lao side. There is also a second contract to build the entrance to the bridge which would cover a total length of 2,775 meters.
This would include checkpoint buildings and other facilities on the Lao side which have a proposed construction period of 30 months and a guarantee period of 24 months.
Once completed, the bridge will serve as a significant transportation corridor connecting Thailand and many Vietnamese cities via Laos and also provide connectivity to China’s Guangxi Province.
Lao and Thai governments agreed to construct the bridge in May 2018.
