Foundation laid for Golden Boten City

Phonsavanh Vongsay, Vientiane Times

THE Golden Boten City Project, which will be a new link for the ASEAN region in Laos, had a foundation stone laying ceremony on Monday in Namtha district, Luang Namtha province.
The project, which took one year to survey and will use an area of 1,640 hectares, will take about 10 years to complete. Golden Boten City Company runs the project.
The Governor of Luang Namtha province Mr Seng-nhong Vongchankham said that the Golden Boten City would be a place for many important activities with neighbouring countries and the world such as services, trade and tourists meeting place.
"This is good for expanding trade relationship cooperation between Laos and China," Mr Seng-nhong said. "It will be good for the local people to have more work as well as upgrading their living conditions and education."
The President of the Golden Boten City Company Mr Wong Man Suen said, "this is a development project to transit and exchange goods, tourists and services."
"The company will build warehouses for storing materials from abroad, international meeting centres, agricultural and industrial processing factories and entertainment venues.
"The project is not only for the development of the economy, tourism sites and transit services of ASEAN countries as well as Japan, China and Republic of Korea. It is also a good sample to show that the Lao Government is opening up to the world by attracting foreign direct investment, as is the Government's policy," Mr Wong Man Suen said.
The Deputy President of the company, Mr Thongphanh Rattanasamay said that the project area was very suitable for international meetings and businesses from both inside and outside the country. Its location is on the Lao-Chinese border, there will be a highway 'R3' from Kunming, China, through Luang Namtha and Bokeo provinces to Bangkok, Thailand.
Mr Wong Man Suen said that there would be three phases for the project's construction. The first phase will take about three years and will cost US$103 million over an area of 22,000 square metres. The construction will be an international exchange goods centre and a centre of transition of goods for ASEAN countries as well as Japan, Republic of Korea and China.
But the investment for the second and third phases has not been revealed yet.
He said that the second phase would be an international meeting centre including 2,500 luxurious bedrooms for business people. The third phase will feature 2,000 bedrooms to facilitate visitors who travel in groups or families. There will be a golf course with 18 holes and 500 guesthouses will be built. Eco-tourism sites and the traditions and culture of ethnic minority groups will attract foreign visitors.
"There will also be a 26 square metre venue for buying high value products such as pearls and jewelry from abroad," said Wong Man Suen.
Golden Boten City will offer a boost to Lao tourism. Every year over 1 million tourists from Xishuangbanna, China, have traveled to Boten port, and onto historical attractions in the Golden Triangle, Laos and other ASEAN countries.
The city will soon enter the ASEAN tourism programme, and will develop a wide tourism market together with ASEAN and the world. A residential district, international school, hospital and a hotel in the city are also part of the scheme.