A new city in Si Phan Don area: Two twin towers and two hotels in the shape of tip khao, a Lao traditional container used for keeping steamed sticky rice
A massive development project in the Four Thousand Islands Mekong area is on the way with Chinese investors in the South of Laos and near the Cambodian border. The construction of the so called "Sticky Rice Basket" hotel is progressing in the Sithandone Special Economic Zone (SEZ), located in Khong district in Champasak Province, as Laotian Times reports.
Si Phan Don is an archipelago of islands in the Mekong River, near the Laos-Cambodia border. Mekong River is very broad at this area and has formed many channels, creating islets and rapids. It used to be a quiet, sleepy, rural area, visited by backpackers and nature lovers. But in 2018 a massive transformation has been started by the Lao government and Chinese investors. Hotels, a casino, a 36-hole golf course, a hospital, an airport and a new town are planned near Southeast Asia's largest waterfall Khone Phapheng. The project is spread across a total of 9,846 hectares. The aim is to attract 10 million tourists, generating approximately 240 million USD per year, by 2050.
The Laos Mahanathy Siphandone (Hong Kong) Investment Co. Ltd. (老撾四千美島(香港)投資有限公司), also known as Laos Maha Nathi Sithandone (Hong Kong) Investment Co. Ltd., in 2018 received a 50-year concession for the land on which the Sithandone Special Economic Zone will sit, together with the road bridge construction, architecture and irrigation company LTV (president: Laty Sysouphannavong). It is providing 80 percent of the funding for the development, while the Lao government is supplying the rest according to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre. Behind the investment company seems to be China’s GuangDong Yellow River Industrial Group. Today the company operates under the name Sithandone Joint Development Co., Ltd (四千美岛联合开发有限公司, president: Li Xiang).
Residents of some villages have been forced to give up their land and relocate. A report by a Human rights organisation named Ban Hinsiu, Ban Phon, Ban Hang Khong, Ban Don Khong, Ban Muang Sen, Ban Phon Kao, Ban Thakhob, and Ban Houakhok.
So far the construction of basic infrastructure – electricity, water systems and a ring road around Don Khong – have been completed. In September 2023, the Laos Mahanathy Siphandone Investment Co. Ltd, paid compensation for farmland to 35 families as they sought to begin work on the golf course, reports rfa.org.
Near Khone Phapheng waterfall a large hotel has been built already. Mon Mon Boutique Hotel has been opened, the hotel is on Facebook. The hotel with 122 rooms has been opened with a ceremony in the presence of Jheng Jia Feng, Chairman of GuangDong Yellow River Industrial Group.
The hotel operates also under the name of Melsweldon.
The investment company has also cooperated with Lao Airlines with an aircraft lease agreement to start a Pakse-Guangzhou charter flights, aiming at Chinese tourists. And it tries to attract investors from Singapore for the further development of the Special Economic Zone named Siphandon New Economic Zone (ເຂດເສດຖະກິດໃຫ່ມສີພັນດອນ, on Facebook).
A groundbreaking ceremony was held on February 22 in 2024 for Khaen twin towers in the presence of Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone. The 63-floor-towers (248.9 m high each) will be located at Thakho village, around 2 km from Khone Phapheng waterfall and are designed in the shape of Khaen, a Lao musical instrument. The twin towers will house five-star hotels, commercial offices, entertainment and convention facilities according to the investing company. Two hotels with 13 floors (62 m high), in the shape of tip khao, a Lao traditional container used for keeping steamed sticky rice, will be also built in phase one of the project. According to the Lao Government News Agency 130 million US dollars should be invested over the next three years.
Four Thousand Islands New Area is a new urban development in Khong district, Champasak province, Laos near the Laos-Cambodia border. This special economic zone will cover an area of more than 9,846 hectares and it will have its own airport by Chinese investment. pic.twitter.com/KXZZLTtQOQ
— PHETSIAM PN. (@PHETSIAM) June 14, 2024
In june 2023 the foundation stone laying of Laos Four Thousand Islands Golf Town was held, attended by Huang Dongsheng, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Yinfu International Group. The total area of the project is about 366 hectares. The project consists of two parts: Part I: 36-hole golf courses and golf clubs, divided into 18-hole forest area and 18-hole riverside area, designed by Greg Norman; Part II: Other commercial and real estate and service facilities.
“[At the Sithandone Special Economic Zone in Laos,] foreign investors have started to develop the land and brought their people, technicians and workers with them to build the big buildings that will be opened in September this year. pic.twitter.com/AdWlYpBxWW
— Mekong Eye (@MekongEye) September 21, 2023
For the moment questions remain: Will the Lao Government be able to control the development in Sithandone Special Economic Zone? Or will the new city develop the same way as the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone with money laundering in the casinos, prostitution and online fraud facilities by organized crime? And where will all the money come for this development?
Despite its inability to control the GTSEZ, the Lao government, desperate for FDI, is planning dozens more zones. Sithandone SEZ, on the south border with Cambodia, is perhaps the most concerning. @jdouglasSEA told me the mega-casino has the potential to be a new Golden Triangle pic.twitter.com/vWl9rx0GkG
— Alastair McCready (@AlMcCready1) October 10, 2023
The project homepage you find here: 四千美岛新 4000 islands; Sithandone Joint Development Co., Ltd
#treasuresoflaos #SithandoneSpecialEconomicZone #Champasak #Laos
