The newest and biggest shopping mall in the country was officially opened to local and foreign customers yesterday, providing a range of quality Lao and Chinese products, as well as gathering various Chinese businesses together in Vientiane.
( Front left ) The Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, the Chinese Ambassador to Laos , Mr Pan Guangxue, and the President of the SanJiang Company, Mr Ding Guo Jiang, cut the ribbon to open the Chinese shopping mall.
The new Chinese market is now the largest mall for Chinese products in Southeast Asia, and a gathering point for the city's Chinese merchants, the President of main investor the SanJiang Company, Mr Ding Gou Jiang, said at the opening ceremony yesterday.
He added that many of these businesses had not been properly organised before, creating an obstacle to the security of Vientiane 's urban areas.
Now that the shopping mall was finished, there was enough room for all Chinese merchants to do business in a more orderly and profitable way.
Participating in the ceremony was the Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, along with the Chinese Ambassador to Laos , Mr Pan Guangxue, and various deputy ministers, members of the Chinese Association and business owners in Vientiane .
Construction on the SanJiang Shopping Mall began in September last year, and the company had expected to complete the project in April, but had to postpone the opening date to August because some Chinese businesses had requested permission to design their own shop spaces.
The shopping mall is targeted at the Chinese market in Vientiane , and most of the products sold there will be imported from China , including both quality and low-priced goods.
Of the more than 300 spaces in the SanJiang Shopping Mall, around 200 have already been filled by Chinese businesses and 100 by Lao business.
The whole mall was fully rented out before it had even opened, the SanJiang Shopping Mall Project Advisor, Mr Vixay Darasath, said.
The SanJiang Company invested about 57 billion kip (about US$6 million) in the initial construction at Oumoung (Neua) village in Sikhottabong district, Vientiane .
This project actually has three phases. The first, which is now complete, was to build the best shopping mall in Vientiane . The second phase will involve investing another US$6 million in hotel construction in the same area and the third phase will see a further US$6 million for an office building, Mr Jiang said.
The shopping mall reflects the relationship of cooperation and traditional solidarity between Laos and China , he added.
The company also reported that the centre would facilitate customer parking, with a parking lot for 800 cars and 5,000 motorbikes. Mr Jiang's experience is that most markets around Vientiane don't have enough parking.
Many markets in Vientiane have this problem, but they are unable to do anything about it because they don't have any space to build more car parks. This centre will be very convenient for customers to use, he said.
By Souknilundon Southivongnorath (Latest Update August 2 , 2007)
