Construction was expected to begin in 2011, for completion in 2014. There were plans to extend this railway south from Vientiane to Bangkok. However, in April 2011 it was reported that construction of the railway has been postponed indefinitely, while the Chinese Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun has been arrested on corruption charges. In October 2012, it was announced again that an agreement with China about the construction of a railway from Vientiane to the Chinese border is to be signed "within days". The project cost is quoted at $7 billion, and the construction will be done by Chinese companies. The ground-breaking ceremony was planned for November 2012, and the completion of the project was expected by 2017. In November 2012, the Laotian press was reporting that the money for the construction of the railway would be borrowed from the EXEM Bank of China; the construction would be started in 2013, and complete in 2018.. As of March 2020 construction is well advanced, with completion scheduled for December 2021. The rail link will go through Yunnan province, linking together Kunming, China with Vientiane via Bangkok, Thailand to Dawei, Myanmar. On February 23, 2013, part of the new railway line started operations. It spans from Yuxi, south of Kunming, capital of China's Yunnan province, to Mengzi on the route to the Vietnamese border, and is mainly intended for freight transport with a maximum speed of . The new line replaces the 100-year-old, Kunming-Haiphone line, which had a speed of just . On 2 December 2015, Laos with China officially began about the construction of a railway from Vientiane to the Chinese border. The railway will stretch , from the Laos-China borderline in Phongsaly Province to Vientiane. The rail will be connected with the new railway bridge spanning the Mekong between Vientiane and Thailand's Nongkhai Province. The total project cost is estimated at 38.7 billion yuan (over US$6 billion), which is about 90.6 million yuan (approx. US$14 million) per kilometre. China will be responsible for 70 per cent of the total investment, while Laos will bear the remainder. In Laos, there are of roadway, of which are paved, leaving unpaved. Right-hand traffic (RHT) is observed in Laos. Laos constructed a new highway in 2007 connecting Savannakhet to the Vietnamese border at Lao Bao, with funding from the Japanese government. This has greatly improved transport across Laos.