National Road 13 North is one of Laos’s most strategically vital transport corridors, connecting Vientiane Capital northward through the country’s agricultural and economic heartland. The Government of Lao PDR — with co-financing from the World Bank, Nordic Development Fund (NDF), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) — commissioned a major rehabilitation and upgrading programme across two separate contracts spanning a combined 64 kilometres. The first contract (2019–2023, works value: US$68.6 million) covered two sub-sections from Sikeut to Phonhong, 58 km upgrading the southern section from two to four lanes and improving the northern section as a two-lane road. The second contract (2023–2025, works value: US$10.7 million) addressed an additional 6-kilometre urban section from Sikhai to Sikeut Intersection, upgrading it to a four-lane concrete-paved carriageway with shoulder and sidewalk enhancements, embankment improvements, and drainage structures. Both contracts were delivered under the World Bank’s Output – and Performance-Based Road Contract (OPBRC) framework.

Across both contracts, LCG served as a core member of the supervision team, with primary responsibility for civil works oversight, safeguard compliance, and capacity building. Under the first contract, LCG reviewed contractor-prepared detailed designs for compliance with design standards, climate resilience requirements, and road safety audit findings; monitored the contractor work programmes, QA plans, progress milestones, claims, and health and safety plans; controlled materials quality and workmanship; and evaluated cost variations. LCG led supervision and monitoring of the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), Resettlement Action Plan (RAP), and Ethnic Groups Engagement Plan (EGEP) in coordination with the Provincial Technical Road Implementation unit. Under the second contract, LCG expanded its scope to include monitoring compliance through the Operations and Maintenance phase, measuring project results framework indicators, conducting road safety inspections, and strengthening the capacity of Department of Roads/Ministry of Public Works and Transport (DOR/MPWT) counterparts in OPBRC implementation and climate-resilient road maintenance practices. As sub-consultant to the Dongsung–Dasan JV, LCG, in practice, fielded the larger resident supervision team taking primary responsibility for day-to-day civil works oversight, safeguard compliance, and counterpart engagement — and it was this demonstrated capacity that led to the JV’s retention by the Department of Roads for the follow-on assignment.

Together, these two consecutive contracts represent one of LCG’s sustained road supervision engagements — spanning over six years on one of Laos’s highest-priority national transport corridors. The upgraded sections deliver improved travel times, road safety, and transport reliability for communities and commercial traffic across the region. The OPBRC framework embedded long-term performance accountability into both contracts, incentivizing high construction quality and sustained maintenance rather than one-off delivery, while integrated climate resilience measures protect the corridor from seasonal disruptions.