Vientiane Cuts Waste Disposal Fee By 50 Percent

Source: Vientiane Times

The waste disposal fee for residents, entrepreneurs and organisations in Vientiane has been reduced by 50 percent from April to June this year.

The Vientiane Urban Development and Administration Authority (VUDAA) issued a notification on Friday to reduce the waste disposal fee at the Km32 landfills for contractor companies to 50 percent of the normal rates in this year’s contract for the three-month period.

The decision was attributed to the agreement notice no 31 from the Prime Minister which was issued on April 2 with the aim of putting in place policies and measures to reduce the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

The waste disposal firms will still collect the waste from houses and other properties in the same way that they did under their contracts in previous months.

The VUDAA asked the public to report to its office directly on the phone numbers 021 244346-7, 020 55507153, 56621164 and 56229422 if the waste carriers or waste disposal firms don’t reduce the fee as stated in the notification.

The Prime Minister announced the measures to reduce the impact of the pandemic on the economy, including tax breaks, such as exempting the collection of income tax from workers in the private sector, government and state enterprise with an income below 5 million kip during April to June.

Income tax was also exempted for micro-finance for the three-month period and an exemption was granted for customs and related fees for importing products to be used to prevent and control the spread of Covid-19, such as face masks, sanitisers and medical equipment.

Tax collection from tourism businesses too was deferred for three months and the deadline for submitting financial reports and business performance reports for 2019 by enterprises was extended from March 31 to April 30.

The deadline for road tax payments was extended from March 31 to June 30.

The Bank of Laos (BOL) has reduced its basic interest rate and the ratio of minimum savings of private banks based on the current situation.

The BOL has instructed private bank to implement the policy on loans to cope with the situation arising from the Covid-19 crisis.