The Development Triangle has a total population of over 4.058 million people. The population density of the entire area is merely 37 inhabitants per square kilometre, but the population is unevenly distributed. While the provinces of Cambodia and those of Laos have a population density of merely 7 and 17 inhabitants per square kilometre respectively, the population density of the three provinces of Vietnam is as high as 74 inhabitants per square kilometre. The province with lowest population density is Mondulkiri (Cambodia) where the figure is only 3 while the province with highest population density is Dak Lak (Vietnam) where the figure is as high as 120 (or 40 times higher than the lowest figure for population density).
The Development Triangle is also an area where many ethnic minority groups are found (37 ethnic groups in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, eight groups in the Southern provinces of Laos, and 13 groups in the Northeast of Cambodia), one of which is found in all the three countries. The natural population growth rate of the Triangle is fairly high (over 2.5% per annum).
Area
Area
Population (2002)
Population density (inhabitant/km2)
Km2
%
’000 inhabitants
%
Total
111021
100
4058
100
37
CAMBODIA
37636
33.9
247.8
6.1
7
Modulkiri
14682
13.2
45.5
1.1
3
Rattanakiri
11052
10.0
110.5
2.7
10
Stung Treng
11902
10.7
91.8
2.3
8
LAOS
28675
25.8
482.1
11.9
17
Attapeu
10320
9.3
99.4
2.4
10
Saravan
10690
9.6
309.5
7.6
29
Se Kong
7665
6.9
73.2
1.8
10
VIETNAM
44710
40.3
3328.1
82
74
Dak Lak
13085
11.8
1572.9
38.8
120
Dak Nong
6515
5.9
365.9
9
56
Gia Lai
15496
14.0
1049.8
25.9
68
Kon Tum
9614
8.6
339.5
8.4
35
1.2 Social, education and heath care level
The intellectual level of the people in the Triangle is low, the net illiteracy rate is very high, particularly in the provinces of Se Kong and Attapeu where the rate even exceeds 40%. The illiteracy rate of the Cambodian provinces is some 36%. The work to eradicate illiteracy meets with great difficulties. The system of schools and classes is poor, the quality of teachers is very limited, and vocational schools are not yet in place. Physical facilities of schools and classes are deficient, poor and scattered. The contingent of teachers is both insufficient in terms of quantity and limited in terms of quality. Human resources are found to be greatly insufficient and poor, and the percentage of trained workers is very low.
The provinces in the Central Highlands (Vietnam) have been basically recognised to meet the standards for illiteracy eradication and primary education universalisation (the combined overall enrolment rate of the provinces is 83.4% for primary schools, 35.9% for lower secondary schools and 18.9% for upper secondary schools).
In the provinces of Cambodia and Laos, the training system remains poor and underdeveloped with no universities or colleges being in place. In the two provinces of Laos, only one secondary teacher’s training school and some vocational training schools are found. In Strung Treng province, there is only one Vocational Training Centre (financed by the Asian Development Bank).
With respect to health care service and protection and care of the people’s health, the types of diseases found in the Development Triangle are typical for poor and economically underdeveloped areas. They include predominant diseases like infectious and parasite diseases (malaria, dysentery), thyroid diseases caused by iodine deficiency and malnutrition, especially among children. Maternal and infant mortality rates remain high. Environmental sanitation and access to safe water remains a problem: shortage of and difficult access to safe water, especially during the dry season, remains to be a serious problem for the population in all provinces in the Triangle.
The health care network is underdeveloped in both terms of physical facilities and human resources. A majority of clinics are classified as temporary ones where equipment, essential medicines, electricity and safe water are all in shortage. Difficult transport conditions in the area limit considerably the people’s access to healthcare services, particularly in remote and isolated areas. Low intellectual level of the people and the existence of many backward practices and customs give rise to the growth of diseases. The fact that health workers have not been trained in management and lack professional experience affects the quality of health check and disease prevention and treatment.
2. Economic features
2.1 Socio-economic development status of the localities within the Development Triangle
2.1.1- The Northeast provinces of Cambodia
(a)- Mondulkiri province
Mondulkiri province is located in the northeast part of Cambodia, which is 380 km from Phnom Penh city. The northern boundary connects to Rattanakiri and Stung Treng provinces, the southern boundary connects to Bin Poeurk province and Dak Lak province of Vietnam (having 286km long boundary), the western boundary connects to Kratie province.
Mondulkiri has an area of about 14,682 km2, and total population of 45,568 inhabitants, of which 80% are ethnic minority people. There are five districts in Mondulkiri: Koh Ngek, Pich Chinda, Keo Sey Ma, O’range and Sen Monorom districts, with 11 ethnic minority groups: Phnange, Khroal, Kreoung, Ro Oung, Steang, Chray, Kouy, Leave, Cham, Tom Pounn, and Phnoon.
Mondulkiri's economy is weak and mainly depends on agriculture. About 80% of the population is involved in farming. The produced food can not only meet the needs of the province (5,869.57 tonnes), but also be sold to neighbouring provinces (699.92 tonnes). Koh Ngek district is the main agricultural area that could produce food to meet the whole province. There is a range of mountains fully covered with green grass at Sen Monorom and O’ Rang districts which is favourable for feeding sheep and cows.
The main agricultural productions of the province: rice, mung bean, soya bean, peanut, coffee, cashew nut, pepper, corn, potato and vegetables. Moreover, the province can produce some fruits, such as banana, longan, rabutan, durian, and jackfruit.
Mondulkiri province has many forests, natural resources, green grass fields and wild animals. The weather is slightly cool in all seasons. The strength of province is ecological and cultural tourism. In addition, three districts: Pich Chinda, Keo Sey Ma and Sen Monorom have great potentials in industry.
In general, the province’s transportation network is poorly developed. A national road has been built from Keo Sey Ma to Sen Monorom district. A new road about 50km long from the province town to Bo Sra is under negotiation to be constructed. The red-earth road, starting from the province centre to Koh Ngek district with a length of 111 km, has not been constructed.
(b)- Rattanakiri province
Rattanakiri is adjacent to Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces of Vietnam, covering an area of around 11,052 km2 with a population in 2002 of 110.5 thousand persons. Its agricultural land is 22,000 ha, including 7,800 ha of paddy growing land and 14,250 ha of other cultivated land. Area for growing rubber is 5,000 ha, cash crops: 20,000 ha, including 16.000 ha for growing cashew nut and 4,000 ha for others like beans, coffee, corn… Animal husbandry industry has 25,000 buffaloes, ox and 30,000 pigs.
Rattanakiri has many tourist attractions thanks to Lumphat Temple, Virakchey National Reserves, three waterfalls and tribes in Rattanakiri.
With regard to tourism, although the province has potential, its tourism has not yet been developed with only a small number of visitors. In 2002, Rattanakiri received over 4000 visitors mainly under the form of eco-tourism, study culture of nationalitics in the province. Rattanakiri has 9 hotels and hostels with 149 rooms, 10 restaurants for abut 300 clients, one domestic airport that is visited by flights between Rattanakiri and Phnom Penh and other important provinces like Siem Reap, Battambang, Koh Kong... very day. The province also has one bus station in the centre where one can find almost all-rudimentary means of transport like taxi, horse cards, and elephants...
In the province, there are one hydropower plant with a capacity of 1,000 KW and one small capacity rubber processing plant. In addition, there are traditional trades by ethnic minorities producing garments, household appliances, and traditional weapons… Manually exploiting precious mines is a sideline job by ethnic minorities in Rattanakiri. In the province centre, there are about 10 natural precious stone shops.
A big market located in the centre of the province is the only trade centre for gathering and distributing goods to 7 district markets as well as to provinces in the west. Annual exports are processed rubber, beans of all types, cashew nut, and forest products…
(c)- Stung Treng province
Stung Treng is a mountainous province in the northeast of Cambodia with a great potential for economic development. Its total population in 2002 is 91.8 thousand persons. Covering a natural area of about 11,902 km2, Stung Treng possesses around 19,000 ha of paddy rice growing land, 2,193 ha of non-stable land and the remaining area suitable for growing cash crops. Stung Treng is a province rich in forest and wild creature resource. A half of the Virakchey National Park’ forest area belongs to Stung Treng province.
Agriculture: Stung Treng’s potential and opportunities in agriculture are timber, fishery, industrial crop growing and processing.
Mekong River and its branches, Se Kong, Se San and Sre Pork Rivers play an important role in supporting the Great Lake and downstream of Mekong River. Those areas comprise of many deep pools and appropriate habitat for fish spawning and breeding during the season from May-August which is very important to be considered to assure that the breeder and spawner will maintain.
Fishery plays a very important role in the life of Stung Treng’s population. The people here consider fishing as a food supply source to feed their whole family and create their main income. Mekong Dolphin or Irrawadi dolphin or Occelo Brevirostria is a form of Cetacea mammal. At present, 40 - 50 dolphins have been discovered in the deep-water area in the Mekong River running through Stung Treng province. Animal husbandry plays an important role in fostering agricultural land and providing protein to the province’s population.
Stung Treng has 227 km of national highways, including 158.9 km of accessible ones, and 127 km of provincial roads. One can go from Phnom Penh to Stung Treng by road (about 481 km), by river (about 335 km) and by air. Stung Treng has one airport situated near Mekong River, mainly for tourism.
Tourism: Stung Treng has a lot of tourist attractions such as Khmer O Pong Morn ancient quarter and Mekong River dolphins, which plays a major role in the field of tourism.
With regard to tourism, although the province has potential, its tourism has not yet been developed with only a small number of tourists. In 2002, Stung Treng received over 1000 visitors, including 300 international ones that are mainly Americans and Australians. They come for business in combination with tourism. Infrastructure for tourism has still been poor and has not yet been appropriately invested. In Stung Treng, there are only a small number of hotels, resorts and restaurants. Stung Treng possesses two specialties, namely: sweet tamarind and Pa Si Y and Pava fish. Among the well-known tourist destinations, the followings are named:
O Pong Morn resort: The resort is the combination of nature and artificial construction, located in Pong Moan village, O Pong Moan commune, Stung Treng province, 9 km away from provincial town. It is situated in the crossroad of Rattanakiri, Kratie and Stung Treng provinces.
Thala Bariwatt resort: It is located in Thala Bariwatt district, 4 km away from provincial town. It can be visited via inland waterway on Mekong and SeKong rivers. Thala Bariwat is a historical resort where situates Preah Ko temple constructed in the 7th – 8th century under King Jaya Varman I dynasty.
Koh Ksach resort: Situated on the Sekong riverbank, 5 km away from provincial town, Koh Ksach is a natural resort known and visited by many visitors in the dry season, especially in the occasion of celebrating the Khmer New Year. Here exists fantastic river sand beach covering 0.5 km wide and 2 km long.
Hang Kho Ba pagoda: This is a historical and cultural relics located in Hang Kho Ba village, Hang Kho commune, Stung Treng province, 6 km away from the provincial town. One can go along the way to the airport, turn left and cross the Sekong River to visit the pagoda. Hang Kho Ba Pagoda is 300 years old. Most of the population here speaks Lao’s language.
2.1.2- The provinces in South of Laos
(a)- Attapeu province
Attapeu province has 5 districts; of which two districts of Phu Vong and Sansay have the shared border with Kon Tum province of Vietnam with the length of 51 km, one section of the borderline of Phu Vong district and Sanamsay district is adjacent to Rattanakiri and Stung Treng provinces of Cambodia with the length of 170 km. The province covers a total area of 10.320 km2, of which forests occupy 70%, non-table cultivated land: 14.2000 ha, paddy rice: 410 ha, slash and burn paddy area: 2.616 ha. Inhabitants are mainly ethnic minorities, engaging in agricultural production by relying on nature. In case of being hit by natural disasters, flood or drought, they live on external assistance. Educational level of the people is till low; health care network is poor. Its GDP growth rate in 2000-2002 is 7.8%; of which, agriculture and forestry grow by 3.62%, accounting for 63.3% of GDP; industry and handicraft industry increase by 4.6%, accounting for 26.62% of GDP; service goes up by 60.1%, accounting for 9.33% of GDP.
Agriculture and forestry is the basic advantage of Attapeu province’s economy with over 80% of its population engaged in agriculture.
The majority of the population still lives in disadvantaged situation. Poor households account for 51% of the province’s total households. Three out of five districts fail to be self-sufficient in food.
With regard to infrastructure, the province has the highway 18B running from the provincial town to the borderline with Vietnam. It also possesses Giang Gion border-check gate to Kon Tum province of Vietnam, the highway 18A connecting to the national highway No.13 and the highway 16 to SeKong. Its border area adjacent to Rattanakiri province of Cambodia has no road access and border-check gate. In Sanamsay district adjacent to Senpang district of Stung Treng province, there have existed sub-border check gates via inland waterway along Sekong river, facilitating transport and travelling by people along the borderline of the two countries.
The highway 1J ( from Municipality of Attapeu to the border of Cambodia and Laos) will have bridges. Japanese specialists conducted two surveys. Budget for constructing the whole road including bridges is planned to be funded by the Government of Japan.
For the road along borderline (from U6 to Vangtat with the length of 67 Km), 45 Km have been completed and the section from Km 45 to Km 67 has been under construction.
Attapeu road to Sansay district (96 Km) is under the framework of the phase II of ADB 9 project crossing Nam Pa focal area.
Inter-province transport and its transport network with outside have still been in poor situation. Telecommunications still face a lot of limitations with only 420 telephone lines operated in the provincial town.
With regard to the Attapeu’s industry, there are currently 2 large-scale factories, 4 medium and 279 small ones. The province has 4 hydropower stations with a capacity of 1,338 kW; of which Huoi Ho is an important station supply power to several industrial production establishments. In addition, there are still numerous sites where hydropower stations can be built. For minerals, the province has precious stones, aluminium, gold and others that can be industrially exploited. Several traditional trades such as silk weaving, knitting… have been existed in the province.
Attapeu possesses a large number of ancient cultural relics dated from King SaySettha dynasty, nice traditional cultures by nationalities, abundant forest resource, rivers, waterfalls that embody in themselves a great potential for history, culture and natural tourism development. Foreign tourists start learning about Attapeu and come to see it
There are a great deal of tourist destinations in the province; of which, the most striking ones name Sepha waterfall, Sephongday waterfall, Nam Pa waterfall and Pha Phong waterfall; lakes on Nong Cay Oc and Nong Pha mountains; ancient relics like Sa Kho pagoda, Saysettha pagoda and Phu Phanom; historical relics of Ly Truong, Ho Chi Minh Trail and Indo-China war remains; handicraft industries by ethnic minorities; nationalities’ style of living and architecture.
Trade has been initially boomed in the province over the past three years with the developed trade network resulting in its annual average trade value growth rate of 30%. Commodity production plans have been implemented wherever possible.
In terms of education, the province has currently 217 general schools with over 17 thousand pupils. Most of the schools have been under degradation with the shortage of teachers and teaching instruments despite the fact that the province has given attention to repairing where necessary. In addition, there are still a lot of difficulties in education in general due to the fact that budged is limited and population lives in a scattered manner. No vocational schools currently exist in the province.
Attapeu province has eradicated some superstitious customs. Disease prevention has been given attention, contributing to reducing epidemic. Programmes for vaccination to prevent 6 basic diseases, clean water ad environmental sanitation, communication on health care have been implemented. Maternal mortality is 500/100,000 persons. Infant mortality at the age of 1 and aged under five is 75/1,000 and 97/1,000 respectively.
(b)- Saravan province
Saravan is the southern province of the People Democratic Republic of Laos. It has a total natural area of 10,691 km2 and a population of 309,500 inhabitants (2002).
Saravan is adjacent to Savanakhet province, bordered by Sekong and Champasack provinces in the south, by Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces (Vietnam) in the east, by Udonthaly province (Thailand) in the west. Its plain is composed of five districts, making up over 40% of the province’s area. Its highland includes Ta Oi and Samuoi districts, taking up over 20% the whole of the province’s area. Food production is the strength of the plain, and the mountain area is fit for growing of industrial trees, coffee, amomum and livestock breeding.
One of its strengths is rich soil, requiring very little fertilizer, which is suitable for growing coffee and banana. There are numerous rivers and huge fields. The Mekong and Sepone rivers also pass the place. The Seset 45KW Hydro-power Plant can meet the power needs of the province and sell electricity to Champasack province and Thailand. The new Seset 2 and Seset 3 Hydro-power Plants are being planned for construction. There are many coals, limestone and materials for cement production. Coal of the province is still prospected, and day-coal is high quality.
There is La Lay International Border Gate to Vietnam through Quang Tri, and national border gate through Hue, which are opened for many years. To Thailand, there is a national and a local border gate. In general, the West-East gates are favourable for trading, with Road 13 and Road 20 connecting Pakse with Saravan.
However, its difficulties can be recognized by its low and instable growth rate, with GDP of 5.7-5.8%. Production is still inclined to nature. Commodity production has not been strongly developed. The illiteracy rate is up to 36%, involving 26,000 illiterates. The infrastructure is poorly developed. The Road 15 to La Lay can be usable only in the dry season. The inter-district roads can also function only during one season and be of no use in the rainy season. There are 17,280 poor households in 138 mountain villages.
The average annual food portion is quite high, reaching 700kg of rice per person.
(c)- Sekong province
Sekong’s population density is about 11 persons/km2 (the figure nationwide is 22.2 persons/km2). Its average natural population growth rate is 3%/year.
In Sekong province reside 14 ethnic minorities, of which Lao Theung is the most populated one accounting for 95% of its population and the second one is Lao Lum with about 5%. In Sekong, there are 13,207 households, including 8,177 poor and 5,072 farming ones. The majority of population engaged in agriculture production relies on nature. In case of being hit by flood or drought, they live on external assistance. Educational level of the people is till low; health care network is poor.
The mountainous area has a population of about 30,180 people, accounting for 40% of the province’s population. People in this area mainly live on shifting cultivation, relying on nature. This is the most remote area without road access.
The plateau area has a population of about 24,503 people, accounting for 32.5% of the province population. In general, life, production, education, health care and communication of the people in this area are better than in the mountainous areas. However, it still has some places whose situations are similar to those in mountainous ones.
The delta area is mainly located in La man district town with a population of about 20,717 people, accounting for 27.5% of the province’s population. Life of the population in this area is better than that in other areas. If compared to the above-mentioned areas, this area has been initially urbanized. Economic production, trade and services start developing.
In addition to engaging in agriculture, some people conduct small business such as retail shop. This type of business has been mainly invested by women.
The province’s GDP or GPP annual average growth rate during 1996 – 2002 is 5.6%. Its income per capita is 103 USD.
Agriculture and forestry occupy a great share in the province’s economic structure, accounting for about 77.1% of GDP. Service sector represents about 18.24% and industry – handcraft industry account for 4.66% of GDP.
2.1.3- The provinces in the Central Highlands – Vietnam
(a)- Dak Lak and Dak Nong province:
The economy attains an annual average growth rate of l1.96% during 1991-2002, higher than nationwide average rate. GDP per capita continuously increases over years, attaining 5,58% per annum. Annual average population growth rate during 1991 - 2002 is 6.38%.
Agriculture, forestry and fishery record an annual average growth rate of 16.3% during 1996 – 2000. The figure in 2002 is 10.98%. This sector’s share in GDP accounts for appropriately 70% at current price.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishery structure experience visible transformation: agriculture value increases while that of forestry decreases and fishery remains stable. In the province’s economy, agriculture still plays the most important role, accounting for a very large share (over 90% of production value by agriculture, forestry, fishery).
Annual average GDP growth rate by industry and construction during 1996 - 2000 is about 7.78%.
Transformation in industrial structure is invisible. In recent 10 years, processing industry has still been the leading one. Deep processing has been given attention in industrial production.
As of 2002, Dak Lak and Dak Nong have about 7,625 industrial establishments, including 7,622 domestic and 03 foreign invested ones. Domestic industrial establishments are mainly owned by individuals and small employers, comprising 7,559 ones. The state-owned establishments are only 25.
By 2002, Dak Lak and Dak Nong have one concentrated industrial park decided by the Government and four industrial clusters by provincial master plan.
Annual average growth rate by service sector during 1996 - 2002 is 9.36%, including 5.32% by trade, 20.02% by transport and post.
Tourism is a service sector, which has a rapid development direction with the province’s comparative advantage in eco-tourism, culture and festival. Annual average tourism growth rate is 13.41% during 1996 – 2000 and continues the upward trend in the following years. However, total value from tourism is still modest.
Annual average growth rate of transport and post is 19.96% during 1996 – 2000.
Over the past years, the province’s health sector focused on primary health care, promoting health check and treatment for people. The healthcare network has been developed to reach hamlets. As of 2002, there were 216 healthcare establishments, including 20 hospitals, 4 general health stations, 192 commune and precinct clinics, 02 provincial hospitals (a provincial general hospital with 500 beds and a traditional medical hospital with 100 beds). There are over 400 private modern and traditional healthcare establishments. Basically, there are no communes that do not have clinics. There are totally 2,920 hospital beds, averaging 14 beds and 3.6 doctors per 10,000 people.
(b)- Gia Lai province:
The province’s economy enjoys a relatively high growth rate with an annual average rate of 9.9% in 2001-2003. It is estimated that the growth rate in 2003 is 11.95%. Some important industries such as electricity production and distribution, construction material production, agro-processing has been in the initial stage of development. The annual average value added growth rate recorded by agriculture and forestry in the three years is over 8%, contributing to the province’s socio-economic stability. Some production sectors such as coffee, rubber and fine wood products that have comparative advantages have been taken shape. Industry achieves relatively high growth rate, focusing on making use of the province’s advantages such as hydropower, agro-industry. Some plants like Ya Ly and Gia Lai cement plants, An Khe tapioca processing plant, An Khe sugar plant, Ayunp, Ya Ly and Ayunh¹ hydro-power plants have maintained stable production and development. Some plants like Se San 3, Se San 3A and H’ Chan hydropowers and Krongpa tapioca processing plants are under construction and going to be put into operation. The value of service sector increases by nearly 11% and is on upward tendency along with strong promotion by tourism sector.
Agriculture and forestry still occupy a high share of 53.3% in GDP, while that of industry and construction is only 20.2%. Agricultural development in combination with rural development has created the linkages between industry and agriculture as well as workers and farmers. With regard to infrastructure development, power supply to rural areas has contributed to improving physical and spiritual life for ethnic minorities in rural areas, which in turns enables poverty reduction. That is the great achievement for the people. In recent three years, industry in Gia Lai has recorded many progresses, gradually stabilizing and developing. Some large-scale industrial establishments have been set up. Rural electrification programme has been promoted, resulting in the fact that in 2001 there were only 146/175 commune accessing to electricity but by the end of 2003, 177/183 communes and towns will have accessed to electricity. As of June 2003, in industry as a whole, there are 6,073 industrial establishments with 22,200 employees; of which: there are 8 state owned establishments with 2,914 employees; and 6,063 non-state establishments with 14,906 employees.
Growth rate by service sector in recent three years is relatively good with increased diverse commodity market, satisfying increased demand by people. Total retail and service turnover increase with an average rate of about 13% per year. Coffee and fine wood products have gradually become main exports, greatly contributing to an increase in Gia Lai’s export growth rate.
Other services like telecommunications and post, transport, banking, insurance, etc. have strongly developed, facilitating Gia Lai’s transaction, cooperation and socio-economic development.
Transport service has basically met the demand for cargo and passenger transport with various types of transport modality and improved and convenient modes.
Telecommunication and post services have made rapid development and modernization. Financial, banking, insurance services have achieved considerable progress, greatly contributing to the overall development of the economy.
Gia Lai’s tourism is a newly born industry, recording a certain growth rate but still representing a small share in the economic structure.
Production supporting services like irrigation, transport, material supply… have contributed to better production.
(c)- Kon Tum province:
The province records an annual average economic growth rate of 11% - 12% during 1998-2002, including 7.32% growth rate by agriculture and forestry, 23.29% by industry and construction and 11.17% by services. The economic structure has been gradually transformed from agriculture to industry and service but still at a slow rate: industry and construction share increases from 12.5% in 1998 to 18.87% in 2002; the respective figures in service sector are 36.9% in 1998 to 37.06% in 2002; agriculture, forestry and fishery record an increase in the absolute figure, but decrease to 44.07% in 2002.
The Central Highlands is evaluated as an area with a potential for agriculture development nationwide. However, Kon Tum has the lowest potential for agriculture development in the area. Its total agricultural land covers an area of 57,694 ha, accounting for only 8% of the area’s total agricultural land. Agriculturally cultivatable land covers an area of 120,761.6 ha, representing 10% of the Central Highlands.
Kon Tum’s industry is of small scale and less developed, mainly focusing on some sectors like food stuff and beverage, garment, timber product, forest products, beds, cupboards, tables…. The majority of products are of low quality and non-competitive in the market.
In general over the past years, tourism has recorded initial development in spite of a small number of visitors and poor infrastructure for tourism. Recently, Ya Ly lakebed has been in the process of taking shape, tourism destinations and routes have been better organized. This is combined with cooperation promotion with the Central Highlands Tourism Association and international travelling agents, the number of tourists to Kon Tum have been increasing. Tourism companies have organized ecological, scientific and cultural tours.
Kon Tum province has 4 national highways of 14, 24, 40, 14C, playing a specially important role in promoting international trade relations between the provinces of the Northeast region of Thailand, South region of Laos and the provinces of the Central Highlands, Central Coastal Region and Southeast region in the shortest way.
2.2 Overall Assessment of Economic Development Status of the Development Triangle
2.2.1- The Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Development Triangle is an area of poor economic development in all the three countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam and is characterised by relatively different levels of development.
The provinces of Vietnam have reached a fairly higher level of production compared to that of the remaining provinces in the Triangle and have established a market-oriented agricultural commodity producing economy while the production in the provinces of Cambodia and Laos is still characterised by natural operations and self-sufficiency, and a market-oriented economy is almost not yet in place in these provinces where trade is also underdeveloped and only a number of private enterprises are involved in the provision of basic goods and consumer goods for the inhabitants. The poverty incidence in these provinces is extremely high: the rates in Se Kong and Attapeu are 64% and 55% respectively. The figure is also very high in Rattanakiri and Stung Treng. In 2002, average per capita GDP was estimated to be less than US$ 200 for the Development Triangle as a whole.
Economic Composition in 2000
in percentage
Development Triangle
Cambodia
Laos
Vietnam
GDP
100
100
100
100
- Agriculture, forestry and fisheries
63.7
68.6
67.2
63.5
- Industry and Construction
13.7
17.3
19.8
13.4
- Services
22.6
14.1
13.1
23.1
Industrial and services sectors development: A number of industrial establishments and service centres have been found in the cities and provincial towns of the Central Highlands provinces of Vietnam. However, their technological level and business and production size are yet to be regarded as high and large, respectively. The industrial and services sectors in the Laotian and Cambodian provinces are almost undeveloped. The tourism service has only been established in the provinces of Cambodia and Laos few years ago and the main activity is to receive private tourists who come for cultural and ecological tourism.
Agro-forestry production:Agro-forestry has been traditionally the major sector in the economy of the provinces involved in the Development Triangle, accounting for a majority of their respective GDP, and playing a very important role in stabilising the lives of the people and maintaining security and order and social security of the border are of each country.
- The Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Development Triangle is evaluated as an area with a great potential for agricultural development. Over the past many years, in addition to food production growth, attention has been given to the area by the countries concerned interested in exploiting the its advantages as a hilly, mountainous and central highlands one for strong development and expansion of perennial cash crops, cattle raising, resulting in a fairly high economic growth rates have been achieved.
- The focus of the Triangle’s agricultural sector is to ensure food security. Given the pressure of food demands, most provinces in the Triangle give first priority to food production so as to achieve the objectives of population stabilisation and restriction of deforestation for cultivation purposes. Nevertheless, food production in general is yet to be sufficient to meet the demand for consumption by local areas, upland areas, particularly remote and isolated areas that suffer from frequent food shortage.
- Agricultural production, in remote and isolated areas in particular, is still characterised by natural operations and self-sufficiency. Market-oriented commodity production has been generally developed only in recent years, but is yet to be sustainable due to the absence of a master plan and the limited market accessibility. Limitations are found in all the quantity, types and quality of products. The typical key products of the area include coffee, rubber, cashew, pepper, meat cows, wood, forestry products...
- Despite of encouraging new progresses, the agricultural production of the Triangle remains to be greatly dependent on natural conditions (flood, drought...). Its physical infrastructure is poor and incomplete. The production practices and techniques are backward in general.
- The countries involved in the Development Triangle have all promulgated their policy to close forest gates and restrict forest exploitation and attached importance to the work of forest management, protection and expansion. However, every year forests are cut down and destroyed and the area of barren land and hills have been increasing, resulting in serious impacts on the ecological environment.
2.2.2 Actual Development Status of Some Major Industries and Sectors
(1)- Composition of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
North-eastern region of Cambodia and Southern region of Laos
During the period of economic rehabilitation and renovation, agricultural production of these two regions focused on addressing the pressing issue of food security and initial remarkable achievements have been attained, contributing to stabilising population and improving the living standards of the people. Agricultural production is mainly self-sufficient, and a market-oriented commodity producing economy has initially been established. As a result, the growth rate of the agro-forestry has been always lower than those of other sectors (only 3 - 4% per annum on average). The shifts in the composition of agro-forestry have been slow. The share of cultivation in total agriculture is usually 58-60%, and those of livestock and forestry are 34 - 35% and 6 - 7%, respectively.
Major agricultural exports of the four provinces of Cambodia and Laos include coffee (mainly in Sekong), bastard cardamom (in the two southern provinces of Laos), meat cow (whole cow export), sawn timber, sophisticatedly processed wood, forestry products (rattan, non-timber,...), rubber and cashew (in Rattanakiri).
The Central Highlands provinces of Vietnam
Over the past ten years or so, the agricultural sector of the Central Highlands has seen remarkable progresses together with its overall economic growth. The greatest success of the Central Highlands agriculture has been the establishment of concentrated cash crop production areas that lays an important prerequisite for developing its market-oriented commodity producing economy in combination with processing industry, thus contributing to improving the living standards of a majority of its population. Its agricultural sector has been achieving high annual growth rates since 1996 (between 11% and 16%).
Imbalances are found in the composition of agriculture. Cultivation has been growing at very high rates, and its share in the total agricultural production value increased from approximately 68 - 69% in 1990 to 85 - 86% in 2002. The paramount growth of cultivation has resulted in smaller shares of livestock and agricultural services.
Considerable shifts were found in the share of forestry in the total agricultural production value of the Triangle over the past years: the figure decreased from 15.2% in 1990 to 3.5% in 2002.
The agricultural composition by economic sectors have also seen remarkable changes: The share of state agriculture and forestry sector went down from 32.6% in 1990 to 11% in 2002 while that of non-state sector rose from 67.4% to 89% during the same period.
(2)- Cultivation
·Food crops
So far, food production has always been a task of primary important of the provinces in the Development Triangle. However, up to now, only the two provinces of Attapeu and Stung Treng have become food (paddy only) sufficient for local consumption, but their food production is instable due to its great dependence on annual rainfall and flood system, and the remaining provinces in the Triangle all suffer from food shortage. The biggest obstacles to food production of the Triangle include a prolonged severe dry season, and a weak irrigation system that is yet to be capable of sufficiently meeting the demand for watering even during the rainy season.
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: The agricultural infrastructure of these provinces, particularly the system of irrigation works, that is characterised by destructions and damages, and has not been restored yet, have reverse impacts on their food production. The frequent and widespread occurrence of flood and drought in combination with their backward production practices and techniques lead to low yield of crops in general and of rice in particular compared to other localities in the border area of the thee countries (average summer rice yield is merely 1.3 – 1.6 tons/ha). Paddy rice is the major food crop (accounting for 93% of the cultivated area of food crops); in 2002 per capita paddy production was 289 kg.
The Southern provinces of Laos: The greatest success of the agricultural sector of Laos PDR in recent years has been sufficient food production that meets the demand for local consumption, an important contribution to which is made by the Attapeu delta. This is an important food producing delta that supplies food to not only the Southern region of Laos, but also for export to the North-eastern region of Cambodia (in recent years, the quantity of small amount rice exported to Cambodia from Attapeu has been between 2 – 2.5 thousand tons/year). Nevertheless, up to now this delta has been able to exploit only 20 - 25% of its land potentiality for wet rice. This is mainly explained by insufficient irrigation (watering) and instable production resulting from unpredictable flood and drought. Per capita food (paddy alone) production increased from 240 kg in 1996 to 340 kg in 2002. The cultivated area of other food crops like corn, sweet potato and tapioca is inconsiderable.
The Central Highlands provinces: Although being not a focal area of food production, food production in the Central Highlands over the past years have seen certain progress, contributing directly to stabilising the life of ethnic minority people. Food production focuses on two major crops, namely rice and maize. The cultivated area of rice increased from 136.9 thousand ha (with an output of 349.5 thousand tons) in 1996 to 148.3 thousand ha (with an output of 529 thousand tons) in 2002. The average annual growth rate of food production (during the 1996 – 2002 period) was approximately 8.6% per annum. As of 2002, the cultivated area of maize was nearly 90 thousand ha, and the average growth rate of maize production during the 1996 - 2002 period was 18.5% per annum. Maize is the only item exported to outside regions, mainly to supply materials to animal feed plants in the South-eastern region and the Southern Central Coasts. Per capita grain food production rose from 175 kg in 1996 to 262 kg in 2002 (the figure for paddy alone was 163 kg).
Rice Production in 2002
Unit: Area: 1,000 ha, Output: 1,000 tons
Province
Annual rice production
Summer and summer-autumn crop
Spring crop
Dry rice, mountain field rice
Area
Output
Area
Output
Area
Output
Area
Output
1. Modulkiri
10.2
- Kg/person
224
2. Rattanakiri
20.9
27.2
7.1
12.0
0
0
13.8
15.2
- Kg/person
274
3. Stung Treng
19.9
25.7
18.2
24.3
0.035
0.074
1.7
1.3
- Kg/person
307
4. Attapeu
13.9
41.2
11.9
37.0
0.4
1.5
1.6
2.6
- Kg/person
402
5. Saravan
220.3
- Kg/person
711
6. Sekong
8.2
19.4
3.3
10.8
0.5
1.9
4.4
6.7
- Kg/person
257
7. Dak Lak& Dak Nong
65.8
272.8
34.4
141.3
21.6
117.9
9.8
13.7
- Kg/ person
144
8. Kon Tum
21.3
56.0
9.0
28.2
4.8
19.6
7.5
8.2
- Kg/person
169
9. Gia Lai
61.2
200.1
25.6
100.2
15.3
77.4
20.3
22.5
- Kg/person
191
Source: - 2002 Statistics by the Ministry of Agriculture of Cambodia and Laos
- Statistics Yearbook 2003 of Vietnam
·Short-term cash crops
The North Eastern provinces of Cambodia: Like in the area of the Southern provinces of Laos, the cultivated area of the short-term cash crops in the North Eastern provinces of Cambodia remains limited, the total area in 2002 was 2,073 ha only. Given their underdeveloped processing industry, the products are mainly for local consumption and partly sold to private traders in the border area of Vietnam.
Selected Short-term Cash Crops Production in 2002
Unit: Area: ha, Output: ton
Crop
Total two provinces
Modulkiri
Rattanakiri
Stung Treng
1. Area of sugar cane
681
n.a
211
470
- Output
14 845
n.a
5 275
9 570
2. Area of groundnut
530
n.a
160
370
- Output
350
n.a
128
222
3. Area of tobacco
235
n.a
150
85
- Output
147
n.a
105
42
4. Area of soybean
149
n.a
149
- Output
119
n.a
119
The Southern provinces of Laos: In recent years, the area of short-term cash crops has ranged between 800 and 1000 ha with the highest figure of about 2400 ha (in 2002). Products are mainly used for local consumption and partly sold to private traders in the border area of Vietnam.
Selected Short-term Cash Crops Production During the 1996-2002 Period
Unit: Area: ha, Output: ton
Attapeu
Saravan
Sekong
Crop
1996
2002
1996
2002
1996
2002
1. Area of soybean
15
90
n.a.
n.a.
70
20
- Output
15
72.0
n.a.
n.a.
51
15.8
2. Area of groundnut
30
84
n.a.
n.a.
70
- Output
36
77.3
n.a.
n.a.
67.2
3. Area of sugar cane
50
50
n.a.
n.a.
70
200
- Output
750
1 000
n.a.
n.a.
1 490
4 200
4. Area of tobacco
80
40
n.a.
n.a.
260
100
- Output
64
38.4
n.a.
n.a.
208
94.0
5. Area of cotton
10
50
n.a.
n.a.
90
30
- Output
5
41.0
n.a.
n.a.
54
25.5
The Central Highlands provinces: Over the past years, the area of short-term cash crops has grown fairly rapidly from 56.3 thousand ha to 87.7 thousand ha between 1996 and 2002 (9.2% per annum on average), and a number of material areas combined with processing establishments have been established. Short-term cash crops are mainly grown in Dak Lak and Dak Nong province, of which key crops include soybean, sugar cane, groundnut, cotton...
Selected Short-term Cash Crops Production During the 1996-2002 Period
Unit: Area: ha, Output: ton
Crop
Whole three provinces
By province in 2002
1996
2002
Dak Lak& Dak Nong
Gia Lai
Kon Tum
1. Area of soybean
10 992
17 348
17 348
- Output
12 421
23 736
23 736
2. Area of groundnut
23 213
20 426
15 402
4 698
326
- Output
25 236
24 144
19 715
4 087
342
3. Area of sugar cane
16 484
23 846
8 187
12 096
3 563
- Output
725 014
1 037 012
345 757
541 000
150 255
4. Area of cotton
16 451
14 646
1 805
- Output
23 850
21 499
2 351
·Perennial cash crops
The North Eastern provinces of Cambodia: Perennial cash crops are mainly grown in the Rattanakiri plateau with major crops being cashew (15.9 thousand ha) and rubber (4,000 ha). Coffee and pepper are also grown with a small area.
The Southern provinces of Laos: Total area of perennial cash crops in 2002 was over 5.2 thousand ha, indicating an increase of 3.4 thousand ha compared to that in 1996. Major perennial cash crops include coffee, mainly concentrated in the Boloven plateau (in Thateng district of Sekong province and partly in Sa Nam Say and San Say districts of Attapeu province) with the major coffee variety being Robusta; the Arabica variety has been developed in recent years and the cultivated area remains small. Coffee yield is still very low at 0.8 ton/ha on average, and its output in 2002 was over 2 thousand ton.
The Central Highlands provinces of Vietnam: The shifts in the composition of agricultural crops over the past time have resulted in the establishment of specialised perennial cash crop cultivated areas such as coffee, rubber, cashew,... in service of the processing industry. Products from many perennial cash crops in this area have been exported in large quantity, and have gained their market share, thus not only generating income for the national economy, but also upgrading the position of Vietnam in the world market for agricultural commodities. Major perennial crops of the area include coffee, rubber, cashew, pepper...
Selected Perennial Crops Production in The Central Highlands Provinces of Vietnam during 1996 - 2002
Vegetables and legumes grown in the area are mainly used for local consumption. Production of vegetables and legumes in 2002 is as follows:
- The North Eastern provinces of Cambodia: The cultivated area of vegetables and legumes of various kinds was 2.1 thousand ha, of which the area of vegetables was 1.2 thousand ha and their output was 2.9 thousand tons, per capita vegetables output being very low - 16 kg.
- The Southern provinces of Laos: The cultivated area of vegetables and legumes of various kinds was 3.2 thousand ha, of which the area of vegetables was 3.1 thousand ha and their output was 15.0 thousand tons, per capita vegetables output being the highest in the Triangle - 84 kg.
- The Central Highlands provinces: The cultivated area of vegetables and legumes of various kinds was 62.6 thousand ha, of which the area of vegetables was 13.3 thousand ha, and the output was 148.6 thousand tons, per capita vegetables output being 45 kg.
Fruit trees: The border area of the three countries enjoy favourable conditions for abundant and diverse tropical and sub-tropical fruit trees, such as mango, pineapple, banana, orange, mandarin, lemon, longan, litchi... that have high yields and quality. However, fruit trees have not been developed in a manner that corresponds with the area’s potential. The cultivated area of fruit trees in 2002 in the Central Highlands provinces was 10.6 thousand ha, that of the Southern provinces of Laos and of the North Eastern provinces of Cambodia was 766 ha and nearly 3 thousand ha, respectively.
In addition, many medical and perfumery plants that likely to be strongly expanded like bastard cardamom, white multiflorous knotweed, panax, ginger, and crocus have been developed in the area. Particularly, bastard cardamom tends to be strongly developed in mountainous districts of Sekong and Attapeu provinces (currently there area more than 1,000 ha of bastard cardamom in these two provinces and the output is approximately 500 tons).
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: In 2002 the buffalo herd consisted of approximately 44.8 thousand heads, and that of cows was made up by 37.3 thousand heads, average number of buffaloes per household being 2.2 heads. This area has good potential for cattle raising development and expansion, but the number of cattle remains small. In addition to meeting the demand for local consumption of the area, hundreds of cows and buffaloes are sold to the markets in Phnom Penh capital, Thailand and the Southern region of Laos (approximately over 1,000 heads per annum). Pig and poultry raising is not widely developed (the average number of pig and poultry heads per household is 1 and 7, respectively). The common raising practice is pasturing, and the occurrences of epidemics and diseases are frequent, especially for pigs and poultry.
This area also has good potential for abundant and diverse natural fish resources with a number of valuable and rare fish species such as fresh water dolphin, Ba Si fish, Ba and Mu fish (local names)... thanks to its location in the downstream area of big rivers and the availability of many natural lakes and ponds (in Stung Treng province in particular). Nevertheless, fishery farming is yet to be developed in this areas, and the main fishery farming activity remains to be natural fish catching from rivers and lakes. At present, there are about more than 30 natural lakes where fish farming is possible, but only some 7 - 10 small lakes have been put into use for fish farming.
The Southern provinces of Laos: The natural conditions of this area are favourable for cattle raising. Actually, this is one of the areas in Laos where many cows and buffaloes are raised and cattle raising is a strength of the two provinces of Sekong and Attapeu. As of 2002, the buffalo herd consisted of nearly 62.9 thousand heads, and that of cow was made up by nearly 22.2 thousand heads; the average number of cow/buffalo per household was 2.8 in 2002. The number of cows and buffaloes has decreased in recent years as a result of large sale mainly for getting money to purchase agricultural machines. The pig herd consists of 53.9 thousand heads (1.8 pigs per household on average), and the poultry herd is made up by some 401 thousand heads (13 heads per household on average). The common mode of raising is pasturing, resulting in slow weight gain of cattle and poultry and frequent occurrence of epidemics and diseases. In particular, the average live weight of pigs at the time of sale after 12 - 18 months of raising is only 40 - 50 kg per pig due to insufficient supply of supplementary feed.
Although this area, especially the Attapeu plateau, has potential for water resources, the area of fishery farming remains small (142.5 ha only and mainly pond-based raising), and the yields of fisheries produced by extensive farming are low.
The Central Highlands provinces: Cattle raising is a strength of these provinces. As of 2002, their buffalo herd consisted of 47.4 thousand heads, and the cow herd consisted of 397.9 thousand heads. The number of cows and buffaloes has not changed much since 1996. The pig herd consists of 913 thousand heads, indicating an increase of 213.6 thousand pigs compared to that in 1996 (the number of pigs has grown at an average rate of nearly 5.5% per annum). The poultry herd consists of over 5.6 million heads, increasing by 2.8 million heads compared to that in 1996 (the number of poultry has grown at a fairly high rate of 14.8% per annum on average). The difficulties facing cattle raising in the Central Highlands are poor quality of cattle varieties, not good enough veterinary service and limited market.
The area of water surface for fishery raising and catching in 2002 was over 4.3 thousand ha (of which the area for fishery raising was 1.78 thousand ha), and the catch was 7.4 thousand tons of aquatic products of various kinds. Fishery farming is not a strength of the Central Highlands.
The border area of the three countries has great potential for forestry development. The forest coverage rates of the provinces in this area are also high compared to other provinces in their respective countries with the average flora coverage of the entire area being nearly 60%.
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: The total area of forest land in these two provinces is currently about 1.48 million ha, accounting for nearly 65% of their natural area, including some 630 thousand hectares (making up 42.5% of the area of forest land) of natural preserved areas, such as Virachey, Lumpat and Phu Nom Nam Ler. Over the past 10 years, due to great difficulties in the people’s livelihood and their practice of burning the woods to get land for cultivation, the forest area in these two provinces has declined rapidly (about 20% between 1990 and now) and this trend still continues. The work of forestation has been slowly conducted, and inconsiderable increases have been seen in the additional area of forests planted annually.
The Southern provinces of Laos: This area is one with highest flora coverage in Laos. The total area of forest land in these two provinces is about 1.24 million hectares, making up nearly 69% of their natural area, of which the rich forests account for 12.9%, average wood forests represent 56.8%, poor and exhausted forests make up 21.7%, and bamboo and thornless and long-sectioned bamboo forests account for 8.6%. The exploitation of wood and forestry products is conducted in accordance with the state annual quotas; on average, each year these two provinces are permitted to exploit some 25 - 40 thousand m3 of wood of various kinds, and about 20 - 45 thousand strands of rattan... This area has good potential for bamboo and thornless and long-sectioned bamboo forests (over 100 thousand ha) that are exploitable for developing paper industry in the area or providing materials for the Central Highlands.
Under the pressure of increasing population and rising demand for food, the practice of improper exploitation of forestry resources and wood in particular and burning of forests to get land for cultivation remains to be seen, having negative impacts on the ecological environment, particularly protected forest areas that are watersheds of rivers and streams, and the Sesup (in the North East of Se Kong), Dong Am Phan (in the East of Attapeu) and Sepian (in the South West of Attapeu) national natural preserved forests. In recent years, only about 500 - 600 ha of forests are planted each year in these two provinces on average.
The Central Highlands provinces: The total area of forest land in these three provinces is currently about 2.39 million hectares (accounting for 53.5% of their natural area), indicating a reduction of over 293 thousand ha against the 1996 level (or decreasing more than 58 thousand ha per annum on average). What deserves to be concerned about is the fact that although the forest coverage remains fairly high, the quality of forests is declining. The share of rich wood forests in the total forest area is merely 10.4%, that of average wood forests is 22.7%, and the remaining 67% of forests are poor and exhausted. The decline in the area and quality of forests is the most pressing problem at present. This is mainly explained by unorganised population migration and massive development of perennial cash crops (coffee in particular).
Forestation has been practising regularly. During the five years from 1996 to 2002, 58.2 thousand ha of new forests were planted in all the three provinces, mainly in an effort to re-green barren land and hills and plant protected watershed forests. As such, about 11.64 thousand ha is planted each year on average, lagging behind the State-funded schedule for a new 5 million ha of forests.
(5)- Agro-forestry technical services
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: Services to support agro-forestry production are almost not yet in place in this area. Currently, there are only 2 - 3 crop experimentation farms/stations in each of these provinces. However, their physical facilities remain poor, failing to meet the requirements of production.
The Southern provinces of Laos: Three crop and animal varieties experimentation and breeding are found in these two provinces (one rice and animal varieties breeding and two fruit tree and forestry plant nurseries). There is one micro-organic fertilizer processing workshop with a capacity of 250 tons/year (on Km number 7th of Attapeu province) in the area, but the present output is only 80 - 90 tons/year on average.
The Central Highlands provinces: There are two universities in the Central Highlands (Da Lat University and Tay Nguyen University), and a number of applied agricultural and forestry research institutions under the general departments, departments and institutes based in the area, contributing an important part to the supply of agricultural and forestry technicians and provision of technical assistance to the area. The system of crop and animal varieties breeding, veterinary service, plant protection service, and credit service has already been in place, but remains weak, failing to meet the requirements for market-oriented commodity production.
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: Basic physical and social infrastructures like transport, health care and education services, etc. in remote and isolated areas in particular, remains poor and backward. Up to now, only about 70% of the districts have main road axes leading to district centres, but most of them are mixed soil and stone roads. The transport networks connecting districts to communes and villages have been available in about 60 - 70% of the localities, but travel is very difficult, especially in remote and isolated areas. Total power consumed in 2002 was nearly 600 thousand KWh (hydropower). The number of households having access to power remains very small, accounting for about 10 - 15% of the total number of households.
The Southern provinces of Laos: The rural infrastructure is very poor in general, in mountainous districts in particular. The major roads leading to their districts have been in place, but the transport and travel is very difficult, especially in mountainous districts. The rural transport system is composed mainly of trails with about 20 - 25% of villages in remote and isolated areas having no roads. Power is only transmittable to the centres of the provincial town and surrounding district centres (hydropower). It is estimated that the percentage of households accessible to power is currently only 23 - 25% (in Sekong) and 10 - 15% (in Attapeu) of the total number of households. A majority of inhabitants in the area use water from rivers and streams for livelihood purposes, and health care and education services have not reached remote and isolated areas yet.
The Central Highlands provinces: There are many difficulties created by the existing physical facilities and infrastructure in service of production and people’s livelihood in this area. Rural transport has initially improved, but travel remains greatly difficult, in remote and isolated areas in particular. Nearly 100% of communes are accessed by car to their centres, but most roads are earthen roads characterised by "mud rain and dust sun" and very difficult transport and travel. Importance has been attached to rural electrification. As of the end of 2002, 100% of districts and 50% of households have access to national grid power. A majority of farmers use water from wells, rivers and streams.
(2)- Rural trades and industries
Rural trades and industries mainly include agro-forestry production (in most provinces, over 85% of the population are involved in agricultural and forestry sectors). Industries, small industries and handicrafts and services have made initial encouraging progress, but their growth rates remain low. Main activities of industries and small industries are processing, such as coffee semi-processing, sugar, cassava and cashew processing, wood processing and contract-based processing, small mechanical engineering, etc. In addition, many traditional trades and industries like brocade, rattan, bamboo weaving, etc. are found in ethnic minority areas.
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: Given their main mode of self-sufficient production, processing industry in this area remains weak.
- Perennial cash crop processing industry: There is only one latex processing establishment with a capacity of 2000 - 2500 tons of latex/year owned by the Sai Sinh Company (in Lung village, Rattanakiri) in these two provinces. The current latex output is not sufficient to meet the demands of the rubber plants in the area. Products from other cash crops include mainly raw ones exported via the surrounding countries (like cashew nut, coffee...).
- Food and foodstuff processing industry: There is one soybean sauce processing establishment (with a capacity of some 10 tons/year) in the provincial town of Stung Treng. The remaining ones are household-based rice milling and fish processing establishments. In 2002, 135 tons of fish (salted fish and dry fish) and 22 thousand litres of fish sauce were processed by Stung Treng province.
- Wood and forestry product processing industry: There is one big sawn timber processing in the provincial town of Rattanakiri, 7 wood and forestry product processing and trading establishments (in 2002 41 tons of rattan were processed), and a number of small-scale household-based units producing household utensils in service of local consumption.
The Southern provinces of Laos: Processing industries in this area are yet to be developed. The main activity of agro-forestry processing industry in the area is wood processing. At present, there are 7 wood processing establishments with a combined capacity of 85 thousand m3/year in the provinces, two of which, namely Trung Dong Company (in Kon Tum province of Vietnam) and Km No. 5 wood processing workshop owned by a Taiwanese private investor, are foreign invested. The main activity of food processing is rice milling with 3 - 4 milling machines being found in each village on average. Currently the main market-oriented processed products of the area include coffee (semi-processed, about 1,100 – 1,500 tons/year, mainly in Sekong province), bastard cardamom (100 - 120 tons of raw products are exported every year), wood (20 - 30 thousand m3/year), rattan.
The Central Highlands provinces: Over the past years, the agro-forestry processing system in the Central Highlands has achieved remarkable progress.
- Rubber processing industry: There are six rubber processing establishments with a combined capacity of 12,500 tons per annum) in the area. The major product from the industry is dry rubber latex (in the form of latex noodle, granules) of export standard.
- Coffee processing industry: In the Central Highlands area an industrial coffee processing area has been established, consisting of over 20 plants with a combined capacity of more than 30 tons of fresh coffee beans per hour. About 80% of coffee is processed by farm households, using small equipment. In recent years, coffee roasting and grinding industry has been strongly developed. A number of companies have been bold enough to invest in coffee processing equipment. As an example, the Trung Nguyen Coffee Company imported a coffee roasting and grinding chain with a capacity of 300 kg per hour from the United States.
- Sugar caneprocessing industry: Four sugar processing plants, namely Kon Tum sugar plant (whose capacity being 1,000 tons of sugar cane per day), Bourbon sugar plant in Gia Lai (with a capacity of 1,000 tons of sugar cane per day), Dak Lak sugar plant (with a capacity of 1,000 tons of sugar cane per day), and sugar plant No. 333 in Dak Lak (with a capacity of 500 tons of sugar cane per day), are found in the Central Highlands. In addition, the An Khe raw sugar processing mill with a capacity of 2,000 tons of sugar cane per day is under construction.
- Tea processing: There are 27 tea processing plants in the Central Highlands with a combined design capacity of 32 thousand tons per year, and 74 small tea processing units. A number of types of processed tea, such as Bau Can tea or Bien Ho tea produced in Gia Lai province are widely sold within the country and abroad.
- Cashew nut processing: Currently four cashew nut processing establishments with a combined capacity of 8 thousand tons per year are found in the Central Highlands. Main technology applied in cashew nut processing at present is oil filtering; the equipment is domestically produced with small required investment. The quality of product meets export requirements, and the final cost is low, thus making the products competitive. Currently, the capacity of the available processing units is not sufficient to meet the actual demand of processed cashew nut products.
- Food processing: At present, the food processing and storage capacity of the establishments under the Southern Food General Corporation in the Central Highlands is made up by 7 milling plants (with a combined capacity of 31 tons per shift), 9 drying systems (with a capacity of 50.5 tons per shift), 1 tapioca starch processing plant (20 tons per shift), over 12 thousand m2 of warehouses that can store more than 13 thousand tons of food. In addition, there some other private processing units, such as the Thai-invested 30-tons per day tapioca starch processing plant in An Khe (Gia Lai province)...
- Wood and forestry processing: There are currently 153 processing establishments in the Central Highlands (representing 12.8% of the total number of establishments in the whole country). The processing capacity ranges between 150 and 200 thousand m3/year (processed products include sawn timber, wooden products, handicraft and fine art products, joint wooden bar board, ply boards, shaving boards...). The rattan processing capacity is 1,600 tons/year, and that of bamboo and small yellow bamboo ranges between 60 and 100 thousand tons/year.
2.2.2.3 Transport network
Transport networks in the Development Triangle are generally unevenly developed. No railways are in place; waterway transport on the Mekong, Kong, Se San and Sre Pork rivers is limited due to the fact that many waterfalls and rapids are found in the bed of these rivers during the dry season and the rivers are in strong spate during the rainy season.
(a)- Road transportation:
The road transportation network has been basically established, but most of the existing road lines in the provinces of Cambodia and Laos are earth roads. Many of the road lines are almost only accessible during the dry season and transportation during the rainy season is extremely difficult.
In the Development Triangle, there are 2,223 km of national roads, 1,932 km of provincial roads, and 4,818 km of district roads in total. The road network is unevenly distributed. The road density is lowest in Stung Treng - merely 0.024 km per square kilometre. The respective figures for Se Kong, Rattanakiri and Attapeu are 0.053, 0.067 and 0.08 km per square kilometre. The road density is highest in the three provinces of Vietnam: Kon Tum - 0.08 km, Dak Lak – 0.105 km and Gia Lai - 0.274 km per square kilometre. Except for the national and provincial roads in the three provinces of Vietnam which have been mostly spread with asphalt, the percentage of bituminous roads in the provinces of Cambodia and Laos remains very low.
Actual Status of Roads in the North-eastern Provinces of Cambodia
- Road No. 78 goes from O Pong Morn three-way crossroad in Stung Treng province via Beang Lung (in Rattanakiri province) to the Cambodia – Vietnam border area. It is 198 km long and at present, a majority of which is composed of earthen roads with the width of the road base varying from 5 to 6 m. It is characterised by relatively even and flat terrain, except for the terrain of the section near the border with Vietnam which is characterised by mountains and hills.
- Road No. 7 going from Kratie via Stung Treng to the Cambodia – Laos border is 198 km long; later on, this road will go onward to Phnom Penh and connect with the Trans-Asian road that leads to Bangkok (Thailand). At present, most parts of Road No. 7 are earth roads with the width of road base varying from 5 to 6 m. Since this road follows the Mekong river, the terrain of its both sides is fairly even and flat.
- Road No. 78A commences from Ban Lung - Voeun Sai – border with Laos and then aligns with Road No. 1J of Laos. It is 93 km long and is made up by earthen roads with the width of road base varying from 4 to 5m.
- Road No. 76 goes from Ban Lung Mondulkiri provincial road. It is 75 km long and is made up by earthen roads with 4- 5m width of road base.
- Road No. 76A starts from Ban Lung to Ta Veng, and then Phum Chang to Ocheng to connect with Vietnam- Laos - Cambodia border three-way cross-road, and is 160 km long. At present, there 40 km of earthen road (Ban Lung- Ta Veng) with the width of the road foundation varying from 4 to 5 m and the terrain of both sides of the road characterised by sloppy and low hills. The remaining section is composed of trails and unformed roads going though mountains, hills and thick forests.
Actual Status of Roads in the Southern Provinces of Laos
- Road No. 18B starts from Muong May town, then goes through M. Saysettha to reach Laos - Vietnam border. It is 105 km long, transport on this road is very difficult at present; its terrain is characterised by dangerous mountains and hills that are full of obstacles and of difficult access, and no bridges or drains have been in place yet. The Government of Vietnam has provided a US$ 48 million concessional loan for financing the construction of this road line. The standards set for the road are grade III for sections of road in the plain area and grade IV for those in the mountainous area.
- Road 18A goes from Phia Phay (NR No. 13) in Champasak province via Sanamsai to Attapeu provincial town, to connect with the Road No. 18B and the Road No. 16 is 115 km long. It is presently composed of gravelled roads and earthen roads with the width ranging from 4.5 m to 5.0 m. Some parts of this road are accessible during six months of the dry season. The financing of the construction of this road line has been put into the development assistance plan of the Government of Japan.
- Road No. 16 links the provincial town of Attapeu and that of Se Kong. It is 76 km long and is being constructed with the financing from ADB. Civil works for the remaining portion of 24-km earth roads are expected to complete in 2004.
- Road No. 16A goes through Champasak and Se Kong provinces. A majority of the existing road is bituminous, the remaining sections are gravelled roads, the width of the road foundation varies from 6 to 8m and that of its surface ranges between 5 and 7m. This road is accessible all year round.
- Road No. 16B goes from Se Kong to the Vietnam – Laos border area. It is 119 km long, most sections are earth roads, the remaining sections are gravelled roads. The width of the road foundation is 6 m. Its terrain is mainly covered by unexploded ordinance, mountains and hills that are full of obstacles and of difficult access. The road is accessible for only 6 months of the dry season during the year. The road will be a major outlet for Se Kong Province to get access to the sea port in Viet Nam. At this point in time, funding is being sought by the Government, possibly from the Government of Japan.
- The section of Road No. 13 from Pakse to the border between Champasak province (Laos) and Stung Treng province (Cambodia) is 160 km long, composed mainly of gravelled roads and few kilometres of bituminous roads; the width of the road base is 9 m and that of the road surface is 8 m; its terrain is characterised by gradually sloping hills with little obstacles and fairly easy access; the road is accessible all year round and will connect with Road No. 7 in Stung Treng and Kratie provinces (Cambodia).
- The route from Se Kong to the border checkpoint in A Luoi district (Thua Thien Hue) is 187 km long. Only 51 km of the road have been cleared for transport. Civil works are underway by a Vietnamese company and clearance of the road is expected to be done in 2004.
- The road No. 15 linking Saravan-Ta Oy to the Vietnamese border (147 Km). Funding is being sought from Japanese Government.
- Road No. 1J going from Muong May to the border area with Rattanakiri (Cambodia) is 90 km long. At present, only 16 km of earth roads are car accessible. The works of investigation and survey are being conducted and the budget for its construction is expected to be provided by Japan.
Actual Status of Roads in the Vietnamese Provinces
- National Road No. 14 that goes along the Central Highlands provinces coincides with and becomes part of the Ho Chi Minh road is being reformed and upgraded.
- National Road No. 14B that goes from the National Road No. 14 to the Tien Sa port (in Dµ Nang) coincides with and becomes part of the Ho Chi Minh road is being built.
- National Road No. 14C starts from the Play Can cross-road (intersecting with the national road No. 40) of Kon Tum province, goes along the Vietnam – Cambodia border via Gia Lai province to Dak Lak province and ends at Bu Porang border checkpoint on the Vietnam – Cambodia border.
- National Road No. 14D starts from Giang ferry (NR No. 14) and stretches to the Vietnam – Laos border; the entire road is situated on the territory of Quang Nam province and is 74.63 km long, its terrain is characterised by dangerous mountains and hills that are full of obstacles and of difficult access. Access to the existing road is very difficult. The present width of the road foundation varies from 5 to 6m. This road which is an earth road without road surface is being reformed and upgraded.
- National Road 19 starts from the Vietnam – Cambodia border and leads to Quy Nhon port. It is 247 km long. At present, this is the best road axis linking the Central Highlands and the seaports in the Centre of Vietnam.
- National Road 24 goes from Kon Tum to Thach Tru (Quang Ngai) and links with the NR No. 1A. It is 168 km long and is being upgraded. The width of its foundation varies from 6 to 7m that of its surface ranges between 3.5 to 4 m, and the surface is spread with asphalt.
- National Road No. 25 starts from My Thanh (Chu Se) three-way cross-road and leads to Tuy Hoa to connect with the National Road No. 1A. It is 180 km long and is being upgraded to grade IV with bituminous surface.
- National Road No. 26 that links Buon Me Thuot and Nha Trang is 151 km long. It is of grade IV in equivalent. There is a 38 km-long section with difficult access including a sub-section crossing the Phuong Hoang mountain pass.
- National Road No. 27 goes from Phan Rang via Lam Dong to Dak Lak. It is 247.6 km long, 60 km of which is bituminous while the remaining is gravelled. This road is of grade IV for mountain roads in equivalent.
- National Road No. 40 starts from Play Can district town, follows on to Bo Y border checkpoint and ends at the Vietnam – Laos border. The entire road is situated on the territory of Kon Tum province and has a total length of 20 km. The road goes through hilly and mountainous areas with sparse population along its both sides. This national road is being reformed and upgraded with the width of foundation varying from 7 to 12m and that of surface ranging between 6 and 7m, and will be fully bituminous.
- National Road No. 49 starts from the Vietnam – Laos border on the territory of Se Kong – A Luoi and leads to Thuan An sea port with a total length of 97 km. The existing road is technically of grade III-V for plain roads. Its surface is of 3.5 - 12m width and its foundation is 5.5 - 18m width. The road surface is made of concrete and asphalt.
(b)- Airways in the Development Triangle
Except for Se Kong and Kon Tum where no airports are found, all the remaining provinces have airports (there are four airports in total in the Triangle). The improvement of provincial airports of Stung Treng and Rattanakiri under the ADB loan-funding project will start in early 2005. They will become regional/sub-regional airports to serve and promote tourism industry in the Development Triangle. The runways of Rattanakiri and Stung Treng airports are gravelled; their physical technical facilities are underdeveloped and can serve only small planes. The surface of the runways of Plei Ku airport is made of concrete. This airport is used for small planes (about 60 passengers) to take off and land with 4 - 5 flights per weak. The runways of the Buon Me Thuot airport have been upgraded to enable the landing of large planes.
(c)- Waterways in the Development Triangle
Few big rivers and streams are found in Attapeu and Se Kong provinces. Most streams are small, and only Kong River can be considered as big. Waterway transport can be made available for 2-ton ships during the dry season and 6-ton ships during the flooding season.
Many rivers and streams are found in Stung Treng and Rattanakiri, but most of them have not been exploited yet. The section of the Mekong River that goes through Stung Treng province is characterised by forest and mountainous terrain, wide riverbed, shallowness and many waterfalls and rapids during the dry season, swift flows during the flooding season, and difficult transport and therefore not yet developed. The Kong River connects to the border between Attapeu and Stung Treng provinces and flows into the Me Kong river in Stung Treng provincial town. This river is characterised by many waterfalls and rapids, and the possibility for waterway transport development is therefore not available yet. The Se San River springs from Vietnam (Kon Tum and Gia Lai provinces), runs through Rattanakiri to reach Stung Treng (Cambodia), then joins the flow into the Se Kong River mouth and finally pours in the Me Kong River in Stung Treng. During the dry season, the river is shallow and many rocks, waterfalls and rapids appear while during the rainy season it is characterised by high water levels and very swift flows that roll forest trees away. Consequently, no projects on exploitation of waterway transport have been implemented here so far. The Sre Pork River springs from Vietnam (Gia Lai and Dak Lak provinces), runs through the frontier between Rattanakiri and Mondulkiri, follows on to the area in the south of Rattanakiri and then Stung Treng to flow into the Se San River. Like the Se San River, the Sre Pork River is characterised by the shallowness and appearance of many rocks, waterfalls and rapids during the dry season and high water level and very swift flows during the rainy season. Up to now, there have not been any projects to exploit the waterway potential of the river.
Given a prolonged and severe dry season, irrigation plays a very important role in the development of agricultural production in the Triangle.
The North-eastern provinces of Cambodia: Since most irrigations works available in these two provinces were developed very long ago and underwent the war without maintenance and repairs, they are now no longer capable of irrigating. 58 irrigation works of both large- and small-scale are found in Rattanakiri province, but only tow of them are capable of watering.
The Southern provinces of Laos: Development of irrigation in this area is significant to rice production and helps create production opportunities that facilitate permanent cultivation and fixed settlement. Up to now, 276 irrigation works have been found in the entire territory of these two provinces, including 5 reservoirs, 11 spill-over dams, 20 small pumping stations, an some other temporary small-scale works which together are capable of watering 5,000 ha of summer rice and nearly 3,000 ha of winter-spring rice. Difficulties are now facing this area with regard to their irrigation development due to large investment requirements, especially in the case of mountainous districts where the area requiring irrigation is small and transport conditions are difficult.
Number of Irrigation Works and Irrigation Capacity in 2002
Number of Irrigation Works
Irrigation Capacity (ha)
Province
Reservoir
Spill-over dam
Pumping station
Summer crop
Spring-winter crop
1. Attapeu
3
18
3 430
2 195
2. Saravan
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
n.a.
3. Sekong
5
8
2
1 355
735
Total
5
11
20
4 785
2 930
The Central Highlands provinces: Over the past years, many irrigation works have been constructed in the Central Highlands. Irrigation has contributed to pushing up agricultural production in this area, which in turn generated abundant and diverse agricultural products. As of 2002, nearly 400 small- and large-scale irrigation works were found in the three Central Highlands provinces (including some 197 capital construction works). The cultivated area of summer rice actually under irrigation was about 50 thousand ha, that of winter-spring crop was 31 thousand ha, and about 145 thousand ha of cash crops, mainly coffee (140 thousand ha in Dak Lak, 4 thousand ha in Gia Lai and 500 ha in Kon Tum) were irrigated.
Number of Major Irrigation Works and Irrigation Capacity for Rice
in 2002 (excluding small agro-irrigation works)
Province
Number of works
Designed irrigation capacity (ha)
Actual irrigation capacity (ha)
Summer crop
Winter-spring crop
Summer crop
Winter-spring crop
1. Dak Lak & Dak Nong
61
44 510
44 510
24 000
16 000
2. Gia Lai
77
35 399
35 399
20 000
12 000
3. Kon Tum
59
10 775
10 775
6 000
3 000
Total
197
90 684
90 684
50 000
31 000
Source: Reports by Provincial Departments of Agriculture, 2002
Trang thông tin Tam giác phát triển Campuchia Lào Việt Nam
Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Development Triangle Portal
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Ministry of Planning of Cambodia
Laos Ministry of Foreign Affair
Ministry of Plannning and Investment of Vietnam Tel (Vietnam) : (84-4)38433360 • Fax: (84-80)44589 • Email: ttth@mpi.gov.vn
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