Concessions and Leases in the Lao PDR

access from bigger “urban” hubs. In addition, the quality of
roads in the Lao PDR varies considerably and not all investment
projects within one hour of district capitals have access
to paved roads, making accessibility in part dependent upon
season. Regardless, these are significant findings as the GoL
has prioritized encouraging investment in remote, mountainous
areas which have little to no infrastructural development
for investment promotion, according to the Law on
Domestic and Foreign Investment Promotion No. 02/NA (8
July 2009) Article 50 (see also PM Decree 135 (2 May 2009)).
However, our analysis finds that most of the area under
investment is relatively close to district capitals, thus it can be
assumed that those remote priority zones are not yet where
investment is most commonly taking place. Further research
is needed to determine the driving factors behind and implications
of this trend.
Concerning the origin of investors, there are significant
differences in terms of the average accessibility of the land
deals granted. Domestic investors hold projects in some of
the most remote regions with 40% of areas under domestic
investment located over two hours from district capitals. FDI
on the other hand accounts for only 19% of the area under
investment outside of two hours travel time from the next
district capital, and joint ventures account for 23% (see Figure
19).
Map 16: Accessibility Map (by travel time to district capital), Investment Project Locations and their Average Accessibility
56 Concessions and Leases in the Lao PDR: Taking Stock of Land Investments