Investment booms in Savannakhet industrial zone
Investment booms in Savannakhet industrial zone
Investment by local and foreign investors is booming in the Savan-Seno Special Economic Zone over the past few years in Savannakhet province.
“There has been a total investment of about 1.293 trillion kip (US$161.7 million) in the zone with a registered capital of about 341.6 billion kip (US$42.7 million),” an official of the zone, Mr Phan omkone Dararasmy, said yesterday.
The US$161.7 million included investment from foreign companies of about 427.2 billion kip (US$53.4 million), investment from local investors of about 106.4 billion kip (US$13.3 million) and joint venture investment between Lao and foreign companies of about 759.2 billion kip (US$94.9 million).
Mr Phanom kone said that so far 37 companies have established themselves in the zone and built production factories as well as service offices.
The 37 companies include 10 companies backed by local investors, 20 foreign investment companies with the remaining seven companies being joint ventures between the local and foreign investors.
They also include investment in the zone from seven Japanese investors with more expected in the future after the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) opened a representative office in Vientiane last month.
The investment of foreign companies and the joint venture investment between Lao and foreign firms includes seven companies from Japan, five investors from Malaysia, another five operators from Thailand, four from France, two companies from Holland, and one each from Switzerland, England and the Republic of Korea.
Mr Phanomkone said this year there will be another two foreign companies coming to and invest in the zone, with one company investing in services and the other in the processing industry.
The recent major investment was from French company Essilor with an injection of 112 billion kip. It plans to produce 15 million optical lenses per year to export to a distribution centre in Thailand for its customers worldwide after opening a new factory last month.
Internationally-known Japanese companies Nikon and Toyota both began construction on factories in the province last fiscal year with Nikon starting production of its component plant early this year.
Currently the zone is busy developing infrastructure and expects to have it fully completed in 2020.
By the end of this year, the zone will able to attract an additional 10 local and foreign companies to operate their businesses there.
Laos is boosting the production of goods for export to take advantage of the Generalised System of Preferences, which cuts tariffs on goods exported to more than 40 developed countries.
vientiane times
