Chinese Company Bets Big on Laos Casino Project Asia English.mp4

Near the famed golden triangle where Laos, Thailand and Burma meet, a Chinese company plans to turn huge tracts of jungle and farmland once associated with the opium trade into a tourism magnet. The company, Kings Romans, says it is building a new economy, anchored in part by a glittering new casino. The Chinese-run Kings Romans' casino is one of the most noticeable and flashy features on the Lao side of the Mekong River's Golden Triangle. Kings Romans signed a 99-year lease with the Lao government to develop and run a special economic zone in a stretch of rural land spanning more than 100 square kilometers. The plans are ambitious. "Here will be the airport. Here will be the industrial zone. Here will be a bridge to connect with Thailand and Burma. The whole project will be finished within the next 20 years," explains a staff member while pointing at a map. For now, the future airport runway is still just a road. But construction is brisk and workers are chopping down forests and flattening hills.