"'Commissions' Required of Companies Bidding For Building Work in Flood-hit Lao Province", 27 February 2019

Construction firms bidding for approval to build permanent homes for flood victims in Laos must pay between 10 percent to 26 percent of the total cost of the project to local authorities if their bids are approved....

Government officials in Attapeu province, where a dam breach last year killed at least 40 and left thousands of others homeless, will sign off on construction bids before submitting them to central government authorities for final approval.

...Even higher amounts have been requested from other firms....

...An Attapeu provincial official in charge of public works meanwhile said that the Lao central government has directed that no commission payments be charged for government approval of bids for the project.

“This is to make sure that there are no scandals of corruption,” Rattanaphone Thepsouvanh, director general of the provincial public works and transportation department, one of the local authorities responsible for approval of the bids, told RFA.

Bidding for the work is still under way, with no final approvals of bids yet granted, sources said.

[Companies mentioned in the report at  Xe Pian Xe Namnoy (PNPC) & SK Engineering & Construction]