Construction work on Vientiane Station, the largest and most important station of the China-Laos Railway, was officially completed on October 6. The rail link is an important Belt and Road Initiative project, which lines up with Laos' strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub. It will run 414 kilometres from Vientiane to the town of Boten on the border with China.

The railway is scheduled to begin operations in December. Laos-China Railway Co, a joint venture based in Vientiane, is in charge of the railway's construction and operation. The main contractor is China Railway Construction Group.

Also in Laos, a ceremony was held on September 28 to mark the beginning of full power generation of the Nam Ou River Cascade Hydropower Project, which was developed by Power Construction Corporation of China (PowerChina).

Nam Ou had a total investment of US$2.8 billion, comprising equity from PowerChina and debt provided by China Development Bank. It was built under a build-operate-transfer structure, and will be transferred to the Lao government after 29 years of operation.

Nam Ou in northern Laos runs southwards, and is a tributary of the Mekong River. The cascade of seven power plants has total installed capacity of 1,272 megawatts.

Xinhua quoted Lao Minister of Energy and Mines Daovong Phonekeo as saying at the ceremony that the Nam Ou project bears strategic significance in the country's power industry development as a large-scale clean energy project that will make an important contribution to the country's economic and social development.

Wang Bin, general manager of PowerChina, said the Nam Ou project is divided into seven cascade hydropower plants, with only the upper one built with a big reservoir, which largely helps achieve the ecological, social and economic goals of the development.

The power generation ceremony was held simultaneously by video conference at PowerChina's Beijing office, its Nam Ou operation and maintenance centre in Luang Prabang, and the last-to-be-completed Nam Ou 7 hydropower plant in northern Laos.