Boten

Boten is a town in Laos in Luang Namtha Province. Boten is on the China–Laos border. It is opposite the Chinese town Mohan. While Boten is part of Laos, most of its inhabitants speak Mandarin Chinese as their native language.

Boten
Boten
Coordinates: 21.18413°N 101.67202°E / 21.18413; 101.67202
CountryLaos
ProvinceLuang Namtha
Time zoneUTC+7 (ICT)
Websitewww.boten.com

The city will be connected to Mohan by a 9.68 km long cross-border railway. Tunnel construction started in June 2016. As of 2017, it is expected that the tunnel would be completed in mid-2019.[1] Boten is the northernmost Lao city on the 414 km railway, with 198 km of tunnels and 62 km of bridges, that will run from Boten to Vientiane at an operating speed of 160 km per hour. The railway project started in December 2016 and is scheduled to be completed and open to traffic in December 2021.[2]

Special Economic Zone
Abandoned casino

In 2002, a casino and several large hotels were built in Boten. The casino mainly attracted Chinese visitors as gambling is illegal in China. In 2011 the Chinese government asked Laos to shut the casino down.[3][4] Today the casino and most hotels are abandoned.

References
  1. "Rail line lays tracks for change in Laos". China Daily. 14 November 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  2. "Laos hails high-quality construction of China-Laos railway". The Star. Xinhua/Asian News Network. 6 June 2020. Retrieved 8 June 2020.
  3. Ganjanakhundee, Supalak (8 September 2013). "No more casinos in Laos: Somsavat". The Nation. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  4. "Treasures of Laos: Golden Boten City has been closed down—will it wake up again with help from China?". Treasures of Laos. 7 April 2013. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
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