Massive growth in Attapeu, but coming at a cost
Massive growth in Attapeu, but coming at a cost
Attapeu province has experienced a huge surge in economic growth driven mainly by investment from the state and private sectors in natural resource sector, according to a senior provincial official.
The average growth over the past three years reached 16.9 percent, which significantly increased compared to the annual target plan of between 13.5 and 14 percent from 2011 and 2015.
The provincial governor Dr Khamphanh Phommathat said the GDP growth of the province was only 8.6 percent in the 2010-11 fiscal year, but jumped to 30.7 percent in 2011-12 before declining to 11.5 percent la st year.
The agriculture and forestry sector grows by 12.8 percent and represents 26.2 percent of GDP, with more people turning from family production to commercial productivity, including rubber and sugarcane plantations.
The industrial sect or grew by some 16.4 percent, notably in the processing of timber, industrial trees and agricultural produce. Meanwhile the service sector grew by 23.6 percent annually following the inflow of foreign investment.
The value of foreign direct investment reached 1,600 billion kip (US$200 million) over the past three years, equal to 71 percent of the province's five-year socio-economic development plan (2011-2015), which was set at 2,252 billion kip.
The government has allocated about 363 billion kip to develop the infrastructure required to facilitate business activities in the province and promote development in remote regions of the province.
Attapeu province is located in far southern Laos, sharing borders with Champassak and Saravan provinces as well as Vietnam and Cambodia. The province serves as a gateway linking Laos to Vietnam and Thailand.
Due to its strategic location, Attapeu province has witnessed rising foreign investment over the past three years, generating more income for some local people. More residents have turned to doing business, operating establishments including hotels, restaurants and tourism-related enterprises.
The inflow of foreign investment encouraged local people to open small businesses and as a result, the number of business units increased from 2,405 in 2011 to 3,535 in 2013.
As a result the income per capita rose from US$945 in 2010-11 to US$1,344 in 2011-12 and to US$1,545 in 2012-13. The number of poor families declined to 24.4 percent of the total families in the province.
However despite robust growth, the province's economy is still vulnerable as it relies too much on the extraction of natural resources for export and unapproved projects funded by private investors which generate state debt.
Revenue collection was still not enough to meet expenditure on various development projects therefore the central government has had to allocate additional funding to support the province's development.
Commercial production has relied mostly on natural resource extraction and many investment projects have not created jobs for local people as anticipated.
It will be quite a challenge for the province to accomplish the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly those concerning school enrolment rates and maternal mortality rates.
vientiane times
