Expressway Tolls Rise In Line With Kip/Dollar Exchange Rate

Source: Vientiane Times

The price of travel on the Vientiane-Vangvieng Expressway has increased in line with changes in the kip-dollar exchange rate.

The Laos-China Expressway Development Cooperation Co., Ltd. recently announced the new toll rates, which have resulted in numerous comments on social media from people already struggling to cope with with rising prices.

The previous cost of a one-way journey on the expressway for a pick-up truck was 166,000 kip, but this has now increased to 193,000 kip. The cost for a car was formerly 100,000 kip, but this has now risen to 113,000 kip.

The expressway operator announced that the toll would be pegged to the US dollar at 00:00 on January 1.

The Vientiane-Vangvieng Expressway enables motorists to travel between the capital and the popular resort town much more quickly than in the past, and it has proved to be enormously popular with people taking weekend breaks or making day trips.

The expressway is the first section of the Laos-China Expressway, which when completed will run between Vientiane through the provinces of Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay and Luang Namtha to the Chinese border in Luang Namtha. The Vientiane-Vangvieng Expressway, covering a distance of 109.11km, opened for public use on December 20, 2020.

Construction took place from 2018 and 2020 and was undertaken by China’s Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group. It is operated as a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project.

The government is now improving National Road 13 North from Vientiane to Vangvieng, to give people another, cheaper, travel option on this route.

Parts of this road are in good condition, but other sections are badly potholed and in need of repair.