Investors are seeking to reinvent the town of a few thousand people as a cross-border commerce hub. Experts, however, say the project is built on shaky economic foundations and therefore a possible subject for criminal activities. "The town has huge potential even without a casino," Siphone Kongchampa, the head of the Boten Special Economic Zone (Chinese: 磨丁经济特区) told Nikkei Asia. The SEZ is expected to expand to more than 16 square kilometres to host businesses from financial services to healthcare, Siphone said. The zone’s developer, the Yunnan-based Hai Cheng Group 云南海诚,a real estate company, says it plans to invest $10 billion to turn Boten into a city of 300,000 people. "That vision is a long way off, with the town’s main hub today consisting of about three square kilometers of Chinese restaurants, gambling halls, hotels and tower blocks", writes Nikkei Asia.
Picture update 2023, One of the largest infrastructure investments in Laos, the Boten Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is a 10-billion-USD Chinese-built and funded zone. pic.twitter.com/WmziBFepIi
— PHETSIAM PN. (@PHETSIAM) July 3, 2023
And there are doubts, expressed by Jason Tower, an expert on transnational crime and security issues in Southeast Asia at the United States Institute of Peace. He told Nikkei Asia: "Given the economic changes post-pandemic, given the slowdown in the Chinese economy, I don’t see how Boten is going to be successful unless it starts veering towards illicit businesses." The government of Laos has so far not controlled what occurs inside some of its SEZs, therefore concern is growing, that transnational crimes like money laundering, drug trafficking and online scams are facilitated.
"The center of Boten has an eerie feel to it. Everything in this border city in northern Laos looks huge: High-rise offices tower over wide, straight highways; vast hotels sit next to expansive duty-free stores. But all of these buildings sit in near total silence", wrote Sixth Tone in September 2023. "The only signs of life come after dark, when the karaoke bars and nightclubs open, and the crooning of middle-aged Chinese men fills the air."
Zhou Kun, chairman of Yunnan Haicheng, was appointed chairman of the Laos Boten Special Economic Zone Management Committee. He tries to develop clusters of commercial finance, logistics and processing, education and medical care and cultural tourism in Boten. But until now only in the the commercial and financial district new buildings have been constructed.
Jing Land Hotel in Botem:
Read more:
Boten: A Ghost Town waits to be waked up by China-Laos-Railway
See more pictures on Instagram:
ເຂດພັດທະນາເສດຖະກິດສະເພາະ ບໍ່ເຕ່ນແດນງາມ (Boten Special Economic Zone)
Boten Border Crossing
Borten SEZ ເຂດເສດຖະກິດພິເສດບໍ່ເຕ່ນແດນງາມ ລາວ
See aerial view of Boten on X.
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