That Luang Swamp rice farmers sell land for township plan

(KPL) The 100 rice farmers of Meuang Noi village, Saysettha district, Vientiane capital, who farmed on 200 ha of land, were affected by the government's plan to buy up their rice fields for a township development.

Most of them had sold off their rice fields, but at different prices, from four, three and two USD per square metre.

For nearby village, Nonwai, seven households were offered a much higher price for their rice land, USD 9 per square metre. Chief of Nonkhor Neua village, Mr Chane Peu Soundala, who spoke to journalists, said that 50 households who farmed on 100 ha of rice land in Nonkhor village, were also told by the government to sell their land.

He added that 20 households of nearby Khamsavath village, who were rice farmers were also affected by the government?s buyout plan.

The rice farmers who lived in the villages of this locality were fully aware of the government?s buyout plan and because of uncertainty; they had drastically reduced the area under dry rice cultivation, from 100 to 40 hectares.The backdrop to the buyout was linked to the government?s 49-year lease of the Bueng That Luang or That Luang Swamp to foreign developers, albeit orally, for the construction of a township.

It was due to the fact that the Vientiane Municipality found itself in a difficult bargaining position because the companies that built the new stadiums and other buildings for the previous SEA Games were now expecting their compensation. According to a press release of the FAO station in Laos on February 2, a Lao team was invited to wetland workshop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to present an alternative to the development of this wetland site into a sprawling, chic and glitzy urban jungle.

The FAO plan advocates an integrated, transparent and coordinated development of this wetland through the development of a master plan and thereby ensuring the preservation of Bueng That Luang and its services.

This interview with the headman or ?nai ban? was carried out when the Lao station of FAO or Food and Agricultural Organisation, a United Nations body, took local journalists and photographers on a field trip to That Luang Swamp on 16 February.

Posted by samakomlao on 11:05 AM. Filed under developments, headlines, Laos . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response