Tourist access to the giant Mekong waterfall of Khonephapheng in the southern province of Champassak could be set to improve with a new township on the drawing board.
The government has allowed a Vietnamese company to conduct feasibility studies on plans for a new tourism-based township near the waterfall.
Champassak Planning and Investment Department Director, Mr Nalongsak Xattakoun said the Vietnamese company would spend 18 months conducting a project feasibility study, one of the first steps the investors must take if they want to invest in Laos .
He said the investor expressed interest in constructing the tourism-based township over an area of about 300 hectares near the great waterfall in Khong district after discovering the tourism potential in the area in which bountiful nature still exists.
The Vietnamese firm believes that the combination of modern, comfortable tourism facilities and unspoilt natural surroundings would be able to attract an increasing number of tourists.
Mr Nalongsak said it was still unclear the exact amount of funds the Vietnamese company was considering investing in construction and development of the new town area, adding that people would have to wait and see the results of the project feasibility study.
However, he said the project would be one of the largest foreign investments in the province, and require a large area of land.
Officials said the government would have to reclaim land and compensate current occupants before any construction work went ahead.
They also said the government would offer the land as its contribution to the joint-venture development.
Other officials said the government would allow the investor a concession period of up to 50 years.
He said the provincial authorities would support investment in tourist facilities as the move would bring benefit to people in terms of revenue generation, while those who lived around the planned project area would have access to jobs and income.
Khong district is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Laos , with large numbers of tourists visiting the area each year.
Most of the tourists who visit the district want to see and experience the beautiful natural setting that includes one of the largest waterfalls in South-East Asia .
The chance of spotting a freshwater dolphin, one of the most endangered aquatic mammal species in the world, is also a big draw card.
Tourists can also come in contact with history, with reminders provided by old railway tracks left by French traders who used them to detour the waterfall.
A few years ago, Champassak provincial authorities granted permission to a Korean company to conduct a feasibility study for reconstruction of the old French railway for tourism purposes. The proposal aimed to help tourists get an impression of Laos at a time when colonialists still occupied the country.
that 's called the more populated nation take advantaged of less populated nation like Laos..
In my opinion, i think we should give a birth to baby boy as much as possible, so that we can influence other country too.. as my observation, China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan seem to have much men more than women...
If this project need large area of land, that mean they have to relocate local residents. will local government provide them housing, vocational training? Relocation will effect the elderly mental health.
That would be nice for a local economy as well as the country in tax revenue, and SouthernLao it's second largest Vietnamese community in laos. and i also believed there's still a lot of empty land out there for a new town. i really don't think that the govt need any relocate the residences, if they want to build a new town they better find a empty spaces which is we have a plenty of it. go for it they got my support a100%.
that 's called the more populated nation take advantaged of less populated nation like Laos..
In my opinion, i think we should give a birth to baby boy as much as possible, so that we can influence other country too.. as my observation, China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan seem to have much men more than women...
i agree with you my friend, out of all the countries, lao is the least populated, normal lao families in the U.S. usually only have 1-2 kids while other asian ethniciities have 3+ from my expierence. lao needs to produce more young mannn!!! the only other country i can compare us to regaurding birth rate and reproducing would be japanese japanese usually only have 1-2 as well. its hard because most of our population fled our country but so did the vietnamese but dang their population exploded still while lao stayed at a mere 6 million i thnk the estimated number for vietname is up in the 80 million.
now that yo have mentiond this my friend i use to only want 1 or 2 children in my family when i get that started but for the lao race i might consider more and more. =( how sadd. but i kno if all the laos around the world come back to the home land theri will be a huge population back in our country but still i think our problem is that we like to keep small families out side of lao. even inside of lao. so yeah these days numbers count. even though i know lao make that up in quality
that 's called the more populated nation take advantaged of less populated nation like Laos..
In my opinion, i think we should give a birth to baby boy as much as possible, so that we can influence other country too.. as my observation, China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan seem to have much men more than women...
I totally disagree with you. "i think we should give a birth to baby boy as much as possilbe" isn't that what we call sexist?
I also hope locals will benefit from this. But with regards to incresing number of children per family, have you considered that many families in the remote rural villages have relatively high number of children 3-5, but due to poverty productivity of each child is not maximized due to lack of opportunity to study. They are forced to do labor in the field to help mom and dad put food for the table and provide for family's other basic needs?
There are also many other countries that had achieved progress despite low population density. Laos has an advantage of having low population, if only there is equity and good governance. Because its more manageable in terms of providing adequate basic services such as health and education.
The problem is blessings is only concentrated to small number of "fortunate" individuals.You know what I mean.
