Lao-Thai joint venture to build sugarcane crushing plant
Lao-Thai joint venture to build sugarcane crushing plant
Lao and Thai businesspeople have agreed to set up a joint venture to build a new sugarcane processing plant in the southern province of Champassak.
With an investment budget of US$165 million, the Siphandone Bolaven Development Company Limited will also promote local people to grow sugarcane, build a power plant fired by sugarcane waste, a fertiliser factory and an ethanol factory.
The joint venture received the green light from the government to proceed with the investment project yesterday. The agreement signing ceremony for the concession project took place between the Ministry of Planning and Investment and representatives of the company in Vientiane yesterday.
According to the company, the planned sugar factory will produce 6,000 tonnes of sugar per day and will employ at least 500 workers. The factory will also indirectly provide jobs to more than 10,000 people, in particular local sugarcane growers.
The factory is aiming to supply the sugar to Asean countries because there are still many countries in this region which have a shortage of sugar to satisfy demand.
The Lao government has agreed to provide a land concession of 6,300 ha to the company to grow sugarcane and build the crushing plant and refinery.
According to the Siphandone Bolaven Development Company, it will start training people on how to grow sugarcane before building the sugar factory as the company needs more raw materials to supply the crushing plant.
The company conducted a survey in the Mounlapamok district of Champassak province, which established that most local people in the area are growing rice and don't have much experience with growing sugarcane.
Therefore there is a need for the compa ny to train them to grow the crops, which can provide them with greater economic benefits.
The company's Managing Director Mr Sarit Tangtrongwechakij said that during the survey, the company found the district to be suitable for building the sugar factory and growing sugarcane to supply it with.
“We also brought sugarcane seedlings from Buriram province, Thailand to teach over 200 local people how to grow them on about 100 ha and it was successful last year, so we believe that the investment will help those in the community to get more benefits in the near future” he explained.
Mr Sarit said the local people know how to grow sugarcane but they don't know how to produce the quality required to supply to the factory.
“That's why we would like them to learn from the experience here and in Thailand to develop themselves for their future benefit as suppliers to the factory.”
Chairman of Buriram Sugar Public Company Limited, one of the largest factories in Thailand, Mr Prachuab Chaiyasan said that his company was happy to provide technical assistance to the Lao company to grow sugarcane and run the sugarcane related business.
“If any famers in the area of Mounlapamok district, Champassak province are interested in this, we will bring them to see how we will work with the project and then bring that experience to develop the area,” Mr Prachuab explained.
Siphandone Bolaven Development Company Limited Chairman, Ms Vilaykham Siphandone told members of the press yesterday that the investment of both the Lao and Thai businesses would benefit local people as they will have jobs and income so that they can escape poverty in accordance with government policy.
“It will be good for them to have more options to generate an income through agriculture because we believe that growing sugarcane will return more benefits to them,” she explained.
vientiane times
