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Laos sets new target for clearing unexploded ordnance for 2017

Xinhua, March 3, 2017 Adjust font size:

Lao National Regulatory Authority (NRA) for the UXO/Mine Action Sector has set a target to increase the land area for clearing unexploded ordnance (UXO) this year.

In 2016, the Lao National Unexploded Ordnance Program (UXO Lao), with the support of international organizations and the government, cleared devices from 2,500 hectares and this year the area will increase to more than 3,200 hectares, NRA Director Phoukhiew Chanthasomboun said at the annual meeting of the UXO steering committee in Lao capital Vientiane on Friday.

To reach this target, the NRA expects to spend about 15 million U.S. dollars on UXO clearance activities and the purchase of equipment and vehicles, Phoukhiew was quoted by Lao state-run media Vientiane Times as saying.

The main activities include UXO clearance, roving, surveys, and community awareness and risk education in the target provinces of Luang Prabang, Huaphan, Xiengkhuang, Khammuane, Savannakhet, Sekong, Salavan, Champassak and Attapeu.

Most of the land to be cleared is used for agriculture such as coffee farming and rice cultivation as well as land needed for new agricultural activities, accounting for 92.5 percent of the total clearance area. Land needed for the construction of schools, irrigation and dispensaries accounts for the remaining 7.5 percent.

Last year, the NRA planned to spend 13.57 million U.S. dollars on UXO clearance but spent only 8.55 million U.S. dollars, Phoukhiew said.

A total of 100,434 UXO devices were detected and destroyed last year, of which 81,773 were cluster bombs. Ten UXO-related accidents killed five people and injured 16 others during the year, he added.

According to statistics from the NRA for UXO/Mine Action Sector, from 1965 to 1973, the United States dropped some two million tons of ordinance on Laos during the Vietnam War, including 2.7 million cluster bombs which are designed to break apart and release a payload of smaller bombs. As many as 30 percent of these bombs did not explode. Endit