Staff members of the China Railway Group Limited (CREC) transport the medical face masks at the stockhouse of Lao Health Ministry in Vientiane, capital of Laos, April 22, 2020. Huang Hong, general manager of the CREC China-Laos Railway Project Headquarters in Vientiane, handed over 200,000 medical masks donated by the CREC to Somdy Douangdy, Lao deputy prime minister and chair of the Task Force Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control. (Photo by Pan Longzhu/Xinhua)

The Laos-China Railway Co., Ltd. (LCRC), a joint venture based in the Lao capital Vientiane in charge of the railway, said on Saturday that the China Railway Group Limited (CREC) has resumed construction at all its work sites along the China-Laos Railway.

Huang Hong, general manager of the CREC China-Laos Railway Project Headquarters in Vientiane, told Xinhua that the CREC, as the main force in the construction of China-Laos railway, has resumed construction in the northern Laos' mountains by 100 percent, which means the railway building has almost returned to the normal level.

Huang also handed over 200,000 medical masks donated by the CREC to Somdy Douangdy, Lao deputy prime minister and chair of the Task Force Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

At the donation ceremony, Huang said although the COVID-19 pandemic has a certain impact on the China-Laos Railway project, the CREC has adopted multiple measures to reduce the infection risks and resume the construction.

On behalf of the Lao government and people, the Lao deputy prime minister expressed his heartfelt thanks to the CREC for donating anti-epidemic materials, and highly affirmed CREC's outstanding contributions in the critical period of the Lao government's fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The China-Laos Railway is a strategic docking project between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy to convert from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

The 414-km railway, with 198-km tunnels and 62-km bridges, will run from Boten border gate in northern Laos, bordering China, to Vientiane with an operating speed of 160 km per hour.