Private investment slows in Vientiane province
Private investment slows in Vientiane province
Private sector investment has slowed in Vientiane province in the first half of this fiscal year with officials hoping to approve 20 investment projects in the following six months, according to the province's Department of Planning and Inves tment.
The department's investment promotion division Head, Ms Khammouy Xayasouk told Vientiane Times this week the department had originally planned to authorise around 30 investment projects over the whole year worth 318 billion kip.
However, she said of the 27 projects (with three from foreign investors) worth 109.9 billion kip, submitted to the authority for consideration over the first half of the fiscal year, only 10 of those had been approved.
Ms Khammouy said the province may not meet its yearly target as it had to prevent the possible repeat of problems related to investment projects such as disputes concerning land concessions.
“We faced many problems with land concessions and the projects so we have to be careful authorising land-related projects,” she said.
Other factors linked to the downturn in the province's private investment were projects not meeting stated development conditions and investment rules, while some needed authorisation from a higher government level.
She also noted that despite energy and mining still generating the most interest from investors the sector had decreased compared to last year because many projects did not meet provincial standards regarding their scale and other possible impacts.
Nevertheless, the department expected energy and mines, special economic zones and services to be the main drivers of growth in the future.
Investment by the private sector represents more than 50 percent of the total for the province which was the reason implementation of policies had to be improved, Ms Khammouy said.
According to Ms Khammouy, provincial authorities held a meeting with the private sector, aiming to solve problems relating to large land concessions, which had been authorised recently.
She said only existing projects approved in the past were permitted to move forward and the business sector asked the government to urgently address problems relating to private investment.
