Lao-Nippon Bridge, Laos

Pakse, the regional capital of southern Laos, lies 130 km north of the world's widest waterfalls, the Khone Falls at the Cambodian border. Since Laos has no railway system, transportation relies greatly on its road networks. The only way for road traffic to cross the Mekong at Pakse was by means of limited number of ferries, and then only during the daytime. The purposes behind the construction of Lao-Nippon Bridge were to further open this part of Laos to tourism, to stimulate agricultural development in the nearby Bolovens Plateau, one of the country's most fertile areas, and to create an integrated road network within the region and with Lao's neighbouring countries. It is inevitable that the completion of the Lao-Nippon Bridge will bring further development to Laos.