[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

dam-l LS: Transport development pact could be Laos' road to ruin (fwd)

Forwarded message:
From owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net  Sat Dec  4 16:12:33 1999
From: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Date: Sat, 4 Dec 1999 13:01:10 -0800 (PST)
Message-Id: <199912042101.NAA26502@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
subject: LS: Transport development pact could be Laos' road to ruin
Sender: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk

South China Morning Post / 1 December 1999

THE MEKONG REGION
Transport development pact could be Laos' road to ruin

CURRENTS by HOWARD WINN
   If ever a country needed a break, it is Laos. Its 
economy is shot to pieces, with hyperinflation of around 
150 per cent, an unstable currency and foreign aid 
declining as donor countries, frustrated by government 
ineptitude, reduce their commitments.
   The country, half the size of France with a population 
of around five million, is one of the poorest nations in 
the world.
   So will the Asian Development Bank's recent transport 
initiative lift it out of its economic quagmire? The answer 
unfortunately is probably no - and the initiative could 
well add to its problems.
   Under the auspices of the bank, Thailand, Laos and 
Vietnam last week signed an agreement aimed at improving 
land transport and cross-border trade.
   However, the leadership in Laos has been ambivalent 
about opening up the country. While espousing it in 
principle, it has baulked at it in practice.
   While Laos has been hurt by the Asian crisis, it has 
compounded its problems by poor economic management. If the 
recent remarks of Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign 
Minister Somsavat Lengsavad are anything to go by, Laotians 
have little to look forward to over the next 20 years.
   Mr Somsavat told Xinhua news agency recently that his 
country would continue its present policies and, without 
apparently intending any irony, claimed his Government had 
achieved remarkable accomplishments over the past 10 years.
   The goal of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, he 
said, was to lift the country out of poverty by 2020.
   Despite these so-called accomplishments, per capita 
income is about US$300 (HK$2,300), down from US$400 in 
1997; its infant mortality rate of 101 per 1,000 live 
births is far worse than the average of 39 in East Asia and 
the Pacific region; and life expectancy is 53 years versus 
69 years in the region and 52 years in Africa. Barely half 
the country is literate.
   The big fear among observers is that with the country so 
ill-prepared for any serious kind of industrial take-off, 
it will fall prey to the likely seamier side effects of the 
new road agreement. The road is expected to lead to an 
increase in drug trafficking, prostitution, smuggling, 
trade in endangered species and illegal logging.
   It is also well-documented that truck drivers play a 
significant role in spreading HIV.
   With the agreement, the road ahead for Laos appears 
bleak.
   
http://www.scmp.com/News/Asia/Article/FullText_asp_ArticleI
D-19991201030602859.asp 

=====
Denis Johnson
Minneapolis, MN, USA
drjohnson1@uswest.net