[Tlc] TLC-economics and development

[justinm at ucr.edu]

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justin



2008-0202 - BKK Post - Highway to Prosperity

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/02Feb2008_news93.php

@THAILAND

HIGHWAY to PROSPERITY

Money, and people, are flooding into areas where roads connect
four countries

Story by SUBIN KHEUNKAEW and THEERAWAT KHAMTHITA, Photos by
SUBIN KHEUNKAEW


A section of the R3A highway in Houei Xai city in Bokeo
province in Laos. Touted as the road to economic prosperity,
the highway links China, Laos and Thailand through the
Thai-Lao bridge in Chiang Khong district. A group of Thai
tourists wait to go through immigration before entering
China's Xishuangbanna.

Tourists board a boat to Houei Xai village before travelling
into China. A tourist bus, operated by a Thai company, in
front of a hotel in Boten city in Luang Namtha, Laos.

The R3A highway may not be familiar to many, but it is already
touted as the road to economic prosperity for the region with
China as the vehicle driving growth.

The modern highway links China, Laos and Thailand through the
Thai-Lao bridge in Chiang Khong district.

The route is serving the massive movement of Chinese people
and their communities, which are rapidly growing in Laos, as
well as the northern parts of Thailand.

The Chinese government has signed a 50-year contract to rent
areas in Boten city in Luang Namtha province on the Lao-China
border to build communities, plush hotels, luxurious casinos,
shopping and entertainment complexes.

Lao villages were relocated to make way for the development
projects.

About 250 kilometres down the R3A route, vast areas in Houei
Xai city in Bokeo province in Laos, opposite Chiang Rai's
Chiang Khong district, have been earmarked to accommodate
Chinese communities, marketplaces and tourist attractions.

The construction of the Thai-Lao bridge linking Chiang Khong
to Houei Xai is expected to start in March next year.

Niwat Teeprueksa, coordinator of China-based Chei Chou
International Co, said the company has a one-billion-baht
project to build a five-star hotel, housing estates, golf
course and tennis courts along the Thai side of the Mekong
river bank. The project is only three kilometres from where
the bridge will be built. The company is funded by a group of
Chinese investors.

Mr Niwat said the investment would stimulate cross-border
trade for Chiang Khong district, and it has been generating
more than one billion baht over the past few months.

Another consortium of investors operating under the name Hong
Yu Co also has development projects in the pipeline.

The company, with Dok Ngiew Kham Co as a subsidiary in Laos,
has rented more than 10,000 rai of land in Tonphueng city, 10
kilometres from Houei Xai, under a 50-year-contract.

The development rush has triggered land sell-offs in some areas.

Somtes Buppha owns a six-rai plot of land near the Mekong
river at Ban Don Mahawan in Chiang Khong district. He said
land brokers had offered to pay him one million baht per rai.

"But I declined the offer and will never sell my land. I will
build a restaurant on my land and start a home-stay business,"
he said.

Bualoy, a Lao who runs a tour company and a construction firm,
said hotels, guesthouses and other accommodation are popping
up in Bokeo province.

"By mid-February, a group of about 500 Thai tourists will stop
over in the city before proceeding to Xishuangbanna using the
R3A route," she said.

Sasithara Pichaicharnnarong, the tourism and sports permanent
secretary, said tourist officials from 17 northern provinces
will survey the R3A road, which was completed late last year,
to try and find ways to boost tourism along the route.

"We will encourage tourist officials in these provinces to
work in a proactive manner," she said.

She expects that over the next five to eight years countries
in the Economic Quadrangle will receive up to 52 million tourists.

The permanent secretary urged the Thai government to prepare
roads linking the R3A and R3B highways.

The R3A highway will link Chiang Khong district in Chiang Rai
to Laos and China, while the R3B road will connect Mae Sai
district in Chiang Rai to Burma and Laos.

He also called for direct flight connections to be opened
between Kunming and Chiang Rai.

Businesswoman Pagaimas Viera, the owner of the Mekong Delta
Travel Agency, has prepared tour buses to take the group of
500 tourists along the R3A and R3B routes to Xishuangbanna.

A source added she is planning a 300-room hotel to serve
tourists on the border of Mae Sai district soon.

Local governments in Chiang Khong district are also adjusting
to the fast-paced development.

Sommai Luangrob, chief of the Wiang tambon administration
organisation (TAO), said a proposal has been floated to change
the TAO into a municipality in response to the population
growth and the increase in the volume of commercial
developments in the area when construction of the Thai-Lao
bridge is finished in 2011.

" More than 100 million baht will be poured into the area," he
said, explaining more land will be bought to build a new
municipal office to handle matters related to the booming trade.

And it is certain that local politicians will fight hard to
control the levers of power in the new administrative body
blessed with a huge budget.

However, with new developments come the fears of age-old
problems such as trade fallout and environmental degradation.

Boontim Tipprasong, president of the Mae Sai chamber of
commerce, is concerned that the projects will be detrimental
to the environment. He also admitted that areas in Chiang Saen
district have been dominated by Chinese businessmen and the
influx of low-priced agricultural products from China under
the Thai-Chinese free trade agreement has adversely affected
the province's agricultural sector.

Chiang Rai governor Preecha Kamolbutr said the frequent change
of provincial governors has been blamed for a lack of
continuity in pursuing local policies, including trade
development.

"We have to do our best to protect the cultural and natural
assets against the impact of fast-paced developments," he said.

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