China-aided railway resettlement project handed over to Laos

A handover ceremony for the China-Laos Railway relocated villages settlement project was held in Nadou Village, Namtha District, Luang Namtha Province, Laos on May 29.

Sonexay Siphandone, deputy prime minister of Laos, Diao Ming, acting consul general of China in Luang Prabang, and the vice-minister of public works and transport of Laos, attended the ceremony.

The project planned to build four relocated villages along the China-Laos Railway, providing 349 households with housing and public service facilities such as kindergartens, elementary schools and health clinics. Public works including roads, water supply and digital TV were built for them as well.

The vice-minister expressed his heartfelt gratitude for and highly affirmed China's assistance work, saying that the China-Laos Railway helped synergize Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub and the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. The relocated villages settlement project as a supporting livelihood project of the railway effectively guarantees the resettlement needs of migrants along the China-Laos Railway and will bring a long-term happy life for the residents along the railway.

Diao congratulated on the smooth handover of the project, saying that the China-Laos Railway is a major landmark project for China and Laos to jointly build the Belt and Road with high quality, and carries the ardent expectation of the Lao government and people for the country's accelerated development and improvement of people's livelihood.

Diao said the completion of the relocated villages settlement project epitomized Laos' accelerated development and is a vivid embodiment of China's adherence to the goal of high-standard, sustainable and people-centered construction of the Belt and Road.

China will continue to work with Laos to build on the China-Laos Railway to promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation to achieve new results, Diao added.