Lao PDR

With development soaring in construction, manufacturing, mining and services, Lao PDR's economic outlook in 2012 is positive. As the driving force behind the domest... Show More + ic economy, these sectors are anticipated to drive a projected growth of 8.3 percent by year-end. To begin, higher wholesale and trading, tourism as well as transport and telecommunications will impact the service sector this year. A construction boom is also on the horizon supported by the preparation for the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Vientiane Capital. With this said, construction will support the manufacturing sector with the additional demand for cement and construction materials. Food and beverages will also expand in response to sustained domestic demand. Additionally, Phu Bia mining company's upgrade of existing copper and new gold and silver projects will generate more output from the mining sector. On the other hand, the power sector will contribute less in comparison to last year, despite the operation of Nam Ngum 5 hydropower project. In the mean time, agricultural output is expected to rebound after the adverse impacts of 2011's floods. Despite this robust growth, the medium-term outlook remains subject to uncertainty in external markets. In 2011, the National Assembly revised and approved the general tax law introducing public finance to a transparent, turnover based presumptive tax regime for businesses with a turnover below the Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration threshold. In effect, this law eliminated minimum business tax. Finally, the implementation of the 'one-stop' service (as stipulated on the enterprise law and the new investment promotion law) commenced in October 2011. Show Less -

The objective of the Health Services Improvement Project is to assist the Lao PDR to increase utilization and quality of health services for poor women and children... Show More + , in particular in rural areas in project provinces. The change is the reallocation of the Grant proceeds to enable the project to finance: (a) a gap for Health Equity Funds (HEFs) in five districts of target provinces; (b) a gap for free deliveries in two pilot districts; and (c) the renovation of the roof and other leaks at the Friendship Hospital so that the hospital can be fully functional. Show Less -

The development objective of the Additional Financing for the Road Sector Project for Lao PDR is to develop a set of Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT) o... Show More + wned environmental and social safeguards acceptable to Government and donors. Both road network development and rural access road components might include subprojects involved with potential resettlement impacts. In order to ensure that affected ethnic group populations will derive benefits under the project, to ensure that any project impacts that adversely affect them are avoided or otherwise minimized and mitigated. The Ethnic Groups Development Plan (EGDP) will consist of a number of activities and will include mitigation measures of potentially negative impacts, modification of subproject design, and development assistance. Where there is land acquisition in ethnic minority communities, the project will ensure that their rights will not be violated and that they be compensated for the use of any part of their land in a manner that is culturally acceptable to them. The compensation and rehabilitation will follow the resettlement policy framework of the project. Show Less -

Ratings for the Poverty Reduction Fund Project for Lao, Democratic Republic of were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory; risk to development outcome was moderate... Show More + ; Bank performance was moderately satisfactory and borrower performance was also moderately satisfactory. Some lessons learned includes: poverty targeting requires clearly defined frameworks and monitoring. The initial problems and the time taken to identify and resolve the poverty targeting approach suggest that future operations will benefit from clearer design targets, stronger indicators, improved assessment and closer monitoring. The lesson from the Lao experience is that this trade off can be justified given the specific poverty reduction objectives, the intention to reach villages in remote mountainous regions and the need to 'protect' the participatory and multi-sector demand-driven approach-all of which would likely have been compromised if the project had been delivered through centralized, top-down line departments without the experience, capacity for outreach or commitment to innovate. More rigorous qualitative analysis and experimental fieldwork, especially in relation to voice and engagement, and capacity building should be conducted as the project proceeds, with far increased budgets and efforts to appoint skilled consultants that have a track record elsewhere. Show Less -

The overall objective of the Public Finance Management Strengthening Program (PFMSP) Multi Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) Project is to support the Government of Lao PDR t... Show More + o enhance the public sector effectiveness to the socio-economic development of its population. The changes are to: (a) align the amount of the grant agreement with the resources available in the MDTF; (b) extend the closing date of the Recipient Executed Trust Fund (RETF) from March 31, 2012 to March 31, 2013; this additional implementation timeline is necessary to allow: (i) AusAID (Australian Agency for International Development) and EC (European Commission)to disburse their respective remaining commitment into the MDTF (ii) to complete the critical activities of the program to fully achieve the project development objective (PDO) and (iii) to provide continued support to the PFMSP 2011-2015; (c) update the allocation to the disbursement categories and the detailed financing plan by sub-components to reflect the extended timeline and the revised amount of the grant agreement; and (d) include the updated results matrix and program indicators. Show Less -

This is report 19 of the International Environmental Panel of Experts (POE or the Panel) for the Second Nam Theun (NT2) Multipurpose Project in the Lao People's Dem... Show More + ocratic Republic. The panel derives its mandate from the concession agreement. This is a 600 page legal documents which assign the POE a contractual responsibility to provide independent review of, and guidance on, the treatment of environmental and social issues associated with the project, along with some executive functions, and after the implementation period of nine years or more, to determine whether the project's environmental and social goals have been met. The POE remains a standing body for the period of the concession. The POE submits its findings to the Government of Laos (GOL) Minister of Energy and Mines and to Deputy Prime Minister addresses recommendations to the GOL, Nam Theun Power Company (NTPC) and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs), and is required to assess the extent to which NT2 meets the requirements of the safeguard policies of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on such issues as the environment, indigenous peoples and resettlement with development. The Panel may engage consultants to help with its work and has done so for the first time in this instance. The time is approaching when the POE will be required to begin the process of addressing the requirement in the Concession Agreement (CA) to undertake a final evaluation of the Nakai resettlement process. The agreement calls for the POE to review the activities performed during the Resettlement Implementation Period (RIP), determine whether the resettlement objectives and the resettlement provisions in the CA have been achieved and provide advice on this to the resettlement committee. Show Less -