Ministries To Relocate To City Outskirts
Ten ministries and other public offices are set to be relocated to the Dongmarkkhai area in Vientiane’s Xaythany district under the capital’s urban development master plan, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The move is aimed at addressing rising traffic congestion in Vientiane and shifting development interest from the city centre to the new site, just 20km away.
Land authorities have allocated 200ha of land in Dongmarkkhai to accommodate the relocation.
The 200ha does not include land already pegged out for roads in the vicinity, increasing the site’s total area, according to Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Land Administration Department Director General, Mr Siphandone Sihavong.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Justice have already organised a ground-breaking ceremony to commence construction on their new buildings.
Other ministries are currently sourcing funding for their relocation despite land plots already being available for their projects.
Deputy Government spokesperson, Mr Phetsakhone Luang-Aphay, told Vientiane Times on Monday he was unable to confirm the exact date the next departments or ministries would relocate as it would depend on the conditions and financial capacity of the government.
Several public offices, departments and organisations in Vientiane are also set to be relocated to Dongmarkkhai including the Vientiane Natural Resources and Environment Department.
Land officials said the ground-breaking ceremony for the new office of the department would take place soon after it reached an exchange deal with a local company to operate the project.
Under the agreement, the company will spend about 20 billion kip to construct the three-storey building with a completion date set for 2015. The company will be allowed to develop the current site of the department.
Since the government unveiled the plan for the relocation of public offices to Dongmarkkhai, public interests in buying land plots has shifted to the area.
Some people want to buy parcels of land and hold them until they can get a good price from buyers in the future. This speculation has driven the rising price of land in the area.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Bank of Lao PDR will be relocated to Nongbeuk-Nongbuathong in Sikhottabong district, where a new road is being built.
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism is relocating to the 450 Year Road.
The construction of the new ministry building comes following a deal with the Dao-Heuang Group, under which the company will develop the former Lao National Tourism Administration building on Lane Xang Avenue.
Under the agreement, the Dao-Heuang Group will build a new five-storey building for the ministry on a 2ha site on the 450 Year Road at an estimated cost of 100 billon kip.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place in April this year and is set for completion in 2015.
Other public offices have already been moved from the city centre, such as the Vientiane Police Headquarters, which has relocated to Kamphengmeuang Road near Lao-ITECC.
The government is developing new roads and other facilities to accommodate the relocation of public offices.
Vientiane is a small city with a population of less than 800,000, but the number of registered vehicles exceeds 577,890.
Souce: Vientiane Times