"Lao Village Farmland, Paddies Destroyed by Work on Lao-China Railway Line" 29 January 2021

Dozens of families in a village in Oudomoxay province in northwestern Laos have been left without use of their farmland after a Chinese company pushed soil from a railway construction site onto farm plots, gardens, and irrigation systems, sources in the village say.

The company blamed for the damage, the China Railway Engineering Group, is subcontracted to clear land and build track along stretches of a high-speed rail line being built to connect China with Laos and other Southeast Asian countries as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s massive Belt and Road Initiative. [...]

“And though they came to collect information about the damage, they haven’t done anything yet to help us,” he said. “We farmers have now filed a complaint with the China Railway Engineering Group, requesting compensation and a solution to the problem.”

Efforts to contact the Chinese construction firm for comment were unsuccessful, but an official of Oudomxay’s Public Works and Transport Department confirmed that the section of railway being built passes through the affected farmland.

“The government will pay compensation for all damages,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Lao-China railway link, on which work began in December 2016, is being touted as a boon for the landlocked nation of nearly 7 million people because it is expected to lower the cost of exports and consumer goods while boosting socioeconomic development.

A total of 1,233 households in Oudomxay province have been affected so far by the Chinese-backed project, with 133 billion kip (U.S. $14 million) already paid out in compensation. [...]