Investment, Trade Boom In Nong Khai

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Investment, trade boom in Nong Khai

NONG KHAI: -- Promoted as a cluster-hub for Thailand’s upper northeastern region, Nong Khai is now attracting trade and investment in its role as a gateway to the Greater Mekhong Sub-region, with projects worth a combined Bt10 billion expected to be launched by the end of next year.

“About five new investment projects are looking to set up here because of the high profit potential,” said provincial Governor Wongsak Swadipanich.

A Thai-Chinese joint venture is interested in investing in a 3,000-rai complex. The Bt4-billion project will consist of a theme park, a religious park, an aquarium, animal racetracks, and a freshwater lake, said Wongsak.

“The project is expected to be officially launched next month,” he said.

Another project, expected to commence next year near the Thai-Chinese complex, is a shopping centre of Otop (one tambon-one product) goods, said the governor, adding that the Thai and Japanese investors in the shopping complex would also set up a manufacturing plant. The two projects are worth about Bt600 million.

The province itself will build an aquarium, requiring an investment of Bt337 million, said Wongsak. He added that construction is expected to begin next year and could take 12 months.

With three neighbouring provinces – Loei, Nong Bua Lam Phu, and Udon Thani – Nong Khai, which is separated from Laos by a 300km stretch of the Mekong River is also a border-trade zone.

The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge was the first bridge to span the river, linking Nong Khai with Tha Na Laeng in Laos, 20km from Vientiane.

Geographically, Loei is positioned to offer tourist attractions for the region, said Wongsak. Nong Bua Lam Phu is the region’s ecological rehabilitation hub, and Udon Thani is the region’s agricultural centre.

About 90 per cent of the region’s income comes from agriculture, thanks to the fertile land and low humidity, Wongsak said, adding that Nong Khai’s agricultural output includes tomatoes and rubber.

“Unsurprisingly, a rubber factory, with an investment value of Bt1 billion, is expected to be developed here,” said Wongsak. He noted that the project would be in line with the expansion of rubber-tree plantations in four provinces, expected to increase from 250,000 rai this year to 1.5 million rai in 2008.

With border trade reaching a remarkable Bt6 billion last year, he said a new checkpoint in would be opened and Buang Kan Pier would be enlarged to increase the capacity for goods containers destined for Laos. Buang Kan checkpoint is one of three checkpoints in Nong Khai.

Average annual per capita income in Nong Khai is Bt19,700, the third highest in the Northeast and fifty-fifth nationally.

--The Nation 2004-08-20