Mr Ramasoot is the chairperson of Sayam International and he continued by saying the mall would occupy a 20-rai (eight-acre) plot of land and have room for 200 brand-name outlets. He noted that the site of the mall is close to an interchange on a new rail route from China to Thailand.
The proposed route will travel from China’s Yunnan Province, through Laos and cross the border to Thailand at Nongkhai. When completed, the train track will go all the way through to Thailand’s key manufacturing hub of Map Ta Phut in Rayong Province.
Sayam International’s partner in the project is a group of Lao businesspeople led by Phisith Banyadith. The Thai company holds a 49 per cent share in the BM Group partnership and the Lao group controls the remainder.
According to Mr Ramasoot, BM needs an initial investment of THB3.5 billion to establish the mall. He finished off by saying that once this first phase was up and running, the conglomerate planned to add a luxury hotel and theme park to the complex.
Huge duty free centre heading for Vientiane
News in Asia
A joint Thai and Lao partnership has announced it will develop and operate a large duty-free outlet centre close to the city of Vientiane. Thai businessperson Sayam Ramasoot said the Laotian government has endorsed the proposal to build a mall with 37,000-metres² of retail space.