Luang Prabang gives land to families making way for airport
Vientiane Times, 24 Feb 2010
Luang Prabang province will provide plots of land measuring 15 x 20 metres to each family having to move to make way for the planned airport extension in the provincial capital.
Mr Khampheng Saysom-pheng told Vientiane Times yesterday the relevant sectors were developing two new villages in Luang Prabang district, which would be connected to the electricity grid and water supply.
Some 500 families will be relocated from the construction site.
The new villages are 5km east of the centre of Luang Prabang district and are located on Road No. 13 North.
The province will also compensate the families for any farmland they will lose, loss of crops and the construction cost of their properties. However, compensation for their property would be calculated based on depreciation, Mr Khampheng said. Details regarding compensation had yet to be calculated.
Some of the families affected are already moving to their own land in other places. Some government offices have already been demolished to make way for the airport extension.
Officials have begun to clear land in preparation for construction and a groundbreaking ceremony is expected to be held next month.
The new airport and its related facilities will be built on the same site as the existing airport, said Mr Khampheng, adding that services will continue as usual during construction.
The new airport is scheduled to open to the public in 2013.
The upgraded airport will have a 2,900 metre runway and will be able to accommodate large aircraft such as the Boeing 737 and Airbus 320 (each with about 200 seats), according to an employee at the Department of Civil Aviation, who asked not to be named.
“Four Boeing 737s or Airbus 320s and three ATR planes will be able to park at the same time,” he told Vientiane Times.
The construction cost of 736 billion kip (US$86.4 million) will be financed by a special credit loan from the Chinese government.
An agreement on the loan was one of the eight cooperation documents signed between the two governments during a working visit by Lao leaders to China led by President and Party Secretary General Choummaly Sayasone from September 6-13 last year.
The airport, 3km outside the town centre, will be better able to handle the growing tourism industry and investment in the World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang and the northern provinces , Mr Khampheng said.
The new airport will be an important transit point for the northern provinces , linking with other countries in the region.
Luang Prabang province currently has direct flights to several major cities in the region, including Vietnam 's Hanoi , Thailand 's Bangkok , Udon Thani and Chiang Mai, and Cambodia 's Siem Reap.
The Lao Gov't will pay back w/in 60 yrs lease of the Airport operation. Also, the Chinese will keep building the casino complex in Borkeo & other regions in the North, that's how they gonna pay back. Either way, it's still good 4 Lao I think. Every body has to start from somewhere, somehow. Lao gov't is doing the right thing to get the country moving forward. They are tired of sit & wait 4 Lao-nok to go back & invest or help develop the country, however, when foreigner such as Thai, or Chinese steps in, Lao-nok complains ....oh...They gonna take this, they gonna take that. That's baloney.
