Hongsa-Chiangman Road to be a boon for Nan

 

“There will be an opportunity to |do business in the tourism andhospitality industry, including restaurants, wellness centres, souvenirs and products related to tourism,” said Varakorn Samakoses, chairman of the Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (NEDA) under the Finance Ministry. 

He made the comment during a press tour to Luang Prabang via the unpaved Hongsa-Chiangman Road last week. 

The road, constructed with financial assistance from the Thai government, will help cut travel from Nan’s Muang district to Luang Prabang to only 4.5 hours from more than eight hours currently.

Logistics costs will go down, while cultural exchanges will be more frequent, Varakorn said. 

The trade and investment |linkage along this route could |be extended from Nan tosouthern China and Vietnam via Laos. 

NEDA president Newin Sinsiri said more trucks would use Nan’s border to pass into Laos. Traffic on the road iss projected to reach about 1,500 cars a day. There will be more tourist arrivals in both Nan and Luang Prabang, he said. 

Nan is expected to welcome a |million tourists, up from 750,000 last year, while Luang Prabang would likely see 800,000-900,000 visitors, up from around 500,000 in 2015, according to statistics from both countries. 

Trade and investment between the two nations via the Huay Kon-Muang Ngeun border checkpoint are expected to boom. “We expect Thai-Laotian border trade via the checkpoint will break Bt10 billion after the completed road is available,” said Sombat Chinsukserm, president of the Nan Chamber of Commerce. 

That is up from about Bt5 billion last year, most of which was capital goods such as cement, steel, fuel oil and construction materials. 

The rest was consumer goods and local products, he said.

Sombat said border trade this year was expected to grow by 20 per cent to Bt6 billion.

 

Luang Prabang beckons

Thai investors are being wooed by Laos to invest in Luang Prabang. 

Bounthieng Soulivanh, president of the Luang Prabang Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said there was big potential for Thai and Asean investors in such merchandise as organic vegetables and products related to the tourism industry, including bath gels, creams and lotions for body care, toothpaste and massage oils. 

Furniture and housewares are also in demand. 

The Bt1.97-billion road is now under construction, after being approved by the Thai Cabinet in December 2014, and scheduled for completion in April 2018. 

The road project is to promote the tourism transport under the framework of the ACMECS Tourism Transport Corridor. 

The road begins in Ban Napong, Hongsa city, in Xayaburi province, and ends at Bang Chiangman, Chompet city, in Luang Prabang province. It will have two 3.5-metre-wide lanes with sidewalks of 1 metre each. Of the total loan, 20 per cent is funded by a grant and the rest by a 30-year soft loan with an interest rate of 1.5 per cent per annum. 

Under the loan conditions, the Laotian government has been given a grace period of 10 years.