Festival vendors told to wait

Governor of Chanthabouly district Mr Saithong Keoduangdy will order the removal of all new shops, booths and entertainment venues that have been set up along Fa Ngum Road or the Vat Chan temple area in the run up to the Vientiane Boat Racing Festival this month.

“We have not yet given permission for vendors to set up stalls in the festival area. The festival itself is on October 13, 14 and 15 and we plan to allow the construction of stalls through the implementation of our model plan, to begin on October 7,” he said.

Mr Saithong said vendors will be allowed to open booths when the warm-up races for the festival start on October 7.

He said stalls set up before this date would have to be removed because district authorities had not approved them and they did not follow the government's plans and directions.

“A company has already won the bid to manage stalls in the area during the festival. We have a plan to locate shops, restaurants and entertainment venues in other areas during the event,” he said yesterday.

Mr Saithong said the sandbags along the Mekong riverbank would not be removed, as the government was organising a bid to sell the bags to interested parties.

“It would be very difficult for us to move more than 40,000 sandbags in time for the festival,” he said.

Festivities for the event occur along Fa Ngum Road from Mahosot Hospital to the starting point of the boat races between Sikhottabong and Chanthabouly districts.

The cost of renting a booth last year ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million kip. In the most popular area, between the Banque pour le Commerce Exterieur Lao and Vat Chan temple, vendors pay 1.2 million kip for four square metres of land for the duration of the event.

Mr Khamseng Soundara, who owns LSK Cable TV in Vientiane , won the bid to manage the area last year, when more than 200 booths were set up. Last year's festival took place from October 23 to 27, with warm-up races in the earlier days and the official competition scheduled for the 27th.

By Panyasith Thammavongsa
(Latest Update October 3 , 2008)