HIGHWAY PROSPERITY

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

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

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.


Photo: Casino in Northern Laos

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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