The Customs Department of the Finance Ministry in Laos will begin collecting valued added tax next month with the department readying equipment and human resources.

“At the beginning we will be collecting VAT at the first Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge between Nong Khai province and Vientiane followed by the other international border crossings,” acting Director-General of the Customs Department Bounpaseuth Sikounlabout told local media during a press conference on Friday.

The provision stipulates that Lao citizens or expat passengers living in Laos upon entry through border checkpoints including international airports shall pay 10-per-cent value VAT on their new or used personal effects.

The levy of VAT is exempted for infrequent passengers who travel less than twice a month on items costing less than US$50 (Bt1,754). |– Vientiane Times

Biggest Chinese train maker eyes RP projects

China’s biggest train maker is sounding off to the Duterte administration |that it wants to do more business in the Philippines while offering larger investments that include a manufacturing plant in a country it described as a “valued friend and neighbour”.

State-run CRRC Dalian revealed these plans when its officials recently visited the Philippines to affirm their “solid intent” to modernise |the country’s ageing railway system, |the company said in a statement.

CRRC Dalian is part of the group that won a 2014 bid to supply 48 new coaches to the congested Metro Rail Transit Line 3 in Metro Manila.

The Duterte administration, with its 1-trillion-peso (Bt726 billion) plan to build more railway systems within six years, including the country’s first subway |system in the traffic-strangled capital, was shaping up to be fertile ground for infrastructure companies seeking to expand their business |– Philippine Daily Inquirer

1,500 hotel rooms in Mandalika on the way

The state-owned firm tasked with developing tourism in the Mandalika special economic zone in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, says it is focusing on supporting infrastructure, including access roads, water treatment facilities and solar power plants.

“We have also started the construction of the Mandalika Grand Mosque to make the Mandalika SEZ a Muslim-friendly destination,” said Edwin Darmasetiawan, development director at the Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation.

It was expected that around 1,500 hotel rooms could enter operation in 2018, Edwin said in Mataram on Thursday.

Those rooms would be provided |by several hotels, including Pullman, Club Med, Royal Tulip (Lee Group), Marriott by EBD Bauer and Intercontinental by Jiva Samudera Biru, he said.

“We are working with tourism college STP Bali and NTB Tourism Polytechnic to prepare human resources, because based on our projection, the Mandalika SEZ can absorb more than 5,000 workers in 2018,”| he said