VIENTIANE: Lao authorities will implement three projects in central Khammuan province to address the ongoing issue of unexploded ordnance (UXO), supporting the government's broader efforts to eliminate UXO across the country.
According to Lao national TV on Monday (June 23), Khammuan is one of the most heavily UXO-contaminated provinces in the country with 316 out of 570 villages affected.
To date, technical surveys have been carried out in 121 villages, leading to the clearance of 11,298 hectares of land, including 9,365 hectares of agricultural land and 1,933 hectares designated for development.
A total of 236,532 unexploded ordnance items have been safely identified and destroyed.
The new projects included a general UXO clearance project across Khammuan province, a targeted clearance initiative focusing on cluster munitions and other explosives in vulnerable communities within Bualapha district, and a project to remove and destroy mobile explosive devices throughout the province.
These projects are scheduled to run through March 2026.
Despite ongoing progress, UXO clearance remains a significant challenge due to the widespread contamination and the substantial financial resources required. Lao officials continue to urge international partners to support these critical efforts to eliminate UXO hazards across the country.
The Lao government aims to clear 65,000 hectares of land by 2025 to boost agriculture, food security and economic development.
Laos is one of the most heavily bombed countries in the world in terms of per capita. From 1964 to 1973, over 2 million tonnes of ordnance were dropped on Laos, of which 30 per cent failed to explode.
Over 270 million cluster munitions were dropped from US warplanes, leaving an estimated 80 million live bomblets scattered and buried around the country. - Xinhua
