Smart City Development, Vientiane Laos PDR

We conceptualised a new satellite town that enables the community to Work, Live and Play. This new satellite town of over 20 Ha, includes spaces for residential, commercial, retail, and a golf course that can be converted to commercial space as the satellite town matures, providing a mix of facilities and great flexibility of the use of land space. The project brings significant impact on the economy of Laos by providing a modern and sustainable industrial zone that will attract new businesses to the country.

Laos is a landlocked country, and it comes with plenty of opportunities. With the recent changes in physical and economic developments of Laos, especially post-pandemic, Phongsavanh Group engaged Surbana Jurong CityGlobal (SJCG) to review the existing master plan which was completed in May 2018. The master plan study completed by SJPG in 2018 (1,552Ha) was used as the main project reference for the further design development and implementation for Project Smart City Development.

The main challenge for the project was to derive at a solution that is achievable, with sizable development phases, and is backed by both a top-down and bottom-up approach. This included financial feasibility to ensure that the project was achievable in the long run. To address this challenge, we provided a developmental approach that included several phases of development, allowing for gradual progress over time while also ensuring that the project is economically sustainable.

Through the project, a realistic master plan that addressed the economic and physical developments of Laos, especially post-pandemic, was achieved. The project may still be underway, but positive revisions to the development parameters such as asset types and absorption rates of the assets are already observed. The project also enhanced the client’s ability to create solutions for a nascent market and site.

It is envisaged that more than 700 people, inclusive of staff from the Client’s conglomerate business will move to the site when the initial Phase 1a is implemented. With the immigrate of people to a new site, opportunities such as job creation can be expected.

The project will bring a significant impact on the economy of Laos by providing a modern and sustainable industrial zone that will attract new businesses to the country. Project Smart City Development looks to create a large number of job opportunities for the people of Laos, which addresses the issue of unemployment in the country. The project will also have a positive impact on the environment by ensuring that the industrial zone is developed in a sustainable way that minimizes the impact to environment.