Waiting for customers: Laotian workers at a restaurant in the border town of Boten
Fore some years Boten (磨丁市), in the middle of tropical forest, at the border of China and Laos, has been a Ghost City, where travellers found closed hoteltowers and shops or apartment complexes with few life. This after China had asked Laos to stop the casino operations, that had fallen into the hands of organized crime. An exodus of around tenthousand people followed, few remained in Boten, among them a Chinese family, whose children go to school in China (read).
Golden Boten City has been closed down - will it wake up again with help from China? This question was published by this blog in 2013. Now there are strong signs of resurrection. Chinas "One Belt One Road"-Strategy brings two railways to this jungle town: Yuxi-Mohan Railway in Yunnan and the Mohan-Vientiane Railway in Laos are under construction and declared to be operational in 2021. They are part of the planned connection from Kunming to Singapore, a major transport route for the export of Chinese goods and the import of resources.
Boten today looks not very different from the time of Golden Boten City. Guests pay with Chinese Yuan or Alipay, Mandarin is the most important language and the local clocks show Beijing time, 60 minutes ahead of Laos. Lao police cannot be seen, the public order is organized by a Chinese surveillance team, as elmundo.es reports. "It is a city in Laos under Chinese management," comments Huang Huang, worker at a Chinese company. And as the opeing of the two railways is coming nearer, the prices are rising. "We have already bought flats for resale later. Last year the square meter was worth 2,000 yuan. Now it costs 4,500 and all that have been built are already sold", he says. Since 2017 there is a lot of construction work ongoing in Boten. "The idea is to create a city where 300'000 people can live. It will take 15 years. Boten will be one of the most strategic stops on the train", says Yang Kai Chang, the tenant of the old Hotel Jingland. The former Golden casino has been converted into a gem emporium with a lot of Chinese customers, "chandeliers aglow above marble floors and rich red carpets", writes nytimes.com. An old nightclub has been transformed into a duty free mall. With the constructions works the nightlife has come back. Club Eccellente with its transvestite cabaret shows opens the doors as in the old days of Boten sin city.
The new Boten is called Beautiful Boten Specific Economic Zone. According to Laotian media Chinese investors want to pur more than $1.5 billion into the new development. Boten Economic Zone Development and Construction Group, a Chinese company headquartered in Kunming, seems to play an important role. Will Doig, a journalist from New York, describes it in his book "High-Speed Empire: Chinese Expansion and the Future of Southeast Asia". In 2017 he talked to local manager Callan Cheng, who said: “We control all of Boten, the entire city”, According to Doig, "the company is the municipal government, administering Boten’s taxes and finances, public utilities, telecommunications infrastructure, sanitation, emergency services, its hotels, markets and, of course, the duty-free mall. Likewise, nearly everyone working in Boten is on the company payroll. The Lao public sector has minimal involvement." Or in the words of Callan Cheng: “They’ve authorized us to take care of things.”
Sinohydro Bureau 14 Co. has signed a construction contract with Laos Boten Special Economic Zone Development Group to build Boten Central Business District (CBD) (phase II) in Boten. The project covers a total floor area of 500,000 square meters. China and Laos have signed a lot of plans for the Boten Economic Zone, for example "China Laos honing - the overall plan for the construction of the Grinding Economic Cooperation Zone" (中国老挝磨憨—磨丁经济合作区建设共同总体方案) and China Laos honing - the overall plan for the common development of the Grinding Economic Cooperation Zone (中国老挝磨憨—磨丁经济合作区共同发展总体规划). China Haicheng Group 中国海诚集团积 is another company involved according to yn.sina.com.cn. They got funding from Hong Kong Fuk Hing Travel Entertainment Group Ltd according to Vientiane Times. Fuk Hing Travel Entertainment Group? Its leader Wong Man Suen was the partner of the Laos authorities for the closed Golden Boten City. "It comes as a surprise to learn the Lao officials have decided to give Wong yet another chance", writes forbes.com.
Read more:
Chinas Railway for Laos: Fast Railway Building between Yuxi and Mohan in Yunnan
Chinas Railway for Laos: The Luang Prabang Mekong Bridge in progress
Macao on the Mekong: How Chinese money flows into the Golden Triangle - US sanctions against Zhao Wei and Kings Romans Group Casino
After the Execution of Naw Kham in China: Mekong Safety remains an Issue
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