The US$1 million vehicle is to be used in a pilot project to clear unexploded sub-munitions from January to May, supported by Komatsu through the Japan Mi ne Action Service (JMAS).
The vehicle is currently at the Thanalaeng warehouse in Vientiane. “We expect it to arrive in Xieng Khuang in the next few days after we have obtained the correct papers from Vientiane border authorities,” Project Manager Mr Khammaly Luangaphay said on Monday.
The project will begin using the vehicle to clear UXO from agricultural land in Nahoy village, Paek district.
The vehicle has already proved effective in destroying mines in Cambodia.
“We are unsure if the vehicle will perform as well as it does in Cambodia because Laos is more heavily affected by sub-munitions, but we can make improvements to the vehicle if it's not suitable for clearing the type of bombs we have here,” Mr Khammaly said.
The vehicle will be used to clear UXO-contaminated flatland areas in the province, but areas the vehicle cannot access such as villages and hillsides will continue to be cleared manually.
Xieng Khuang is the second most contaminated province in Laos after Savannakhet.
Most of the buried ordnance consists of cluster sub-munitions known locally as bombies, but Savannakhet and other UXO contaminated provinces in central Laos are mostly contaminated by larger bombs.
Xieng Khuang is more heavily impacted by bombies than any other province, with surveys revealing 90 to 100 unexploded sub-munitions per hectare in agricultural land.
JMAS began clearing ordnance in Xieng Khuang province in 2006. The organisation is carrying out its objectives alongside the government's own UXO Lao programme, aiming to give the people of the province a safe and peaceful life.
The number of UXO casualties in Laos is expected to have fallen from over 300 in 2008 to less than 75 by 2015. The number of casualties prior to 2008 is estimated to have averaged 304 per year, while in 2009 and 2010 the figure was less than 117 and is estimated to be 87 this year.
Altogether, 98 of the country's 143 districts are contaminated with UXO. Furthermore, 41 of the 45 poorest districts are heavily contaminated, hampering development in these areas.
By 2015, Laos aims to have cleared 12,500 hectares of contaminated land, of which more than 11,800 hectares will be used for agriculture and the rest for other forms of development.
More than 28,000 hectares of UXO-contaminated land have been cleared since 1996. By 2020 the country aims to have cleared UXO from 200,000 hectares of land.
It is estimated that out of the 2 million tonnes of bombs, including 288 million cluster bombs, that were dropped on Laos between 1964 and 1973, about 30 percent did not detonate.
By Khonesavanh Latsaphao
(Latest Update January 10, 2012)
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