Najib to witness signing of agreement for railway work

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak will witness the agreement signing for the US$5 billion (about RM15 billion) electric double track railway project to be built by a Malaysian company that will turn landlocked Laos into land link.

The master concession agreement is between the Laotian government and Giant Consolidated Ltd, the Malaysian company, to develop the 220km track from Savannakhet to Lao Bao, near the Vietnam border. Malaysian Ambassador to Laos Datuk Than Tai Hing said Laotian Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong would also witness the signing ceremony to be held here tomorrow.

Najib will arrive here this afternoon for a three-day working visit to Laos and to attend the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Than said the five-year standard gauge railway project would link the east and west of this country and turn this nation from landlocked to land link, apart from realising the Asean Connectivity by 2015 and contributing to this country's economic development.