An official ceremony saw the opening of National Road 14A which will provide easy access to the World Heritage Site of Vat Phou Champassak. The 25km road runs from Huayphek village in Phonthong district to Phaphin village in Champassak district of Champassak province.
Before the road was built, visitors to Vat Phou had to take a ferry across the Mekong and then drive a further 2 to 3 hours to reach their destination. The travel time has now been cut to just 25 minutes.
The government had made the new road a priority as it would make it much easier for visitors to access the Vat Phou temple complex, both from Chongmek on the Lao-Thai border and from Pakxe district. This would help to bring more tourists to the site and further boost the economy of the province.
The road, which passes through 12 villages, cost 160 billion kip (US$20 million) to build and involved the construction of nine concrete bridges, said Mr Oudone Keodouangdy, President of the Douangdy Bridge Construction Company. Construction began in 2008 and was finished last year.
Vat Phou Temple was the second World Heritage Site in Laos to be recognised for preservation by Unesco and was added to its list in 2001. The temple is a unique example of early Khmer architecture. Its origins date back to the 5th century but its surviving structures date from the 11th to 15th centuries AD.
At the foot of Vat Phou lie the remains of the ancient city of Shestupura, first settled in the 5th century AD and believed to be the oldest urban settlement in Southeast Asia.
With increasing tourist arrivals, Laos is set to become a keyinternational tourist destination.
Source: Vientiane Times
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