INFRASTRUCTURE - Locals give new bridge lukewarm welcome

Bangkokpost.com, Wednesday December 20, 2006

Mukdahan _ Despite being planned as a commercial link, the second Mekong bridge linking Thailand and Laos is receiving only a lukewarm welcome from local people, who do not expect any immediate benefits. They welcomed this symbolic and significant part of the East-West Corridor, but said it would be a few years before the 2.6 billion-baht-bridge began to yield concrete benefits.
Setthayuti Krailassiri, 29, managing director of the 150-room Ploy Palace Hotel built in downtown Mukdahan about 12 years ago, will be among the first to gain.
He and his colleagues did not begin to fully enjoy their investment until the Asian Development Bank-financed rehabilitation of the 250km Road 9 connecting Laos and Vietnam was completed in October last year. This coincided with the popularity of the Thai TV soap opera Hoi An: I Love You, which was set in Vietnam. Mr Setthayuti said many Thais travelled to Vietnam by land and as a result discovered more of Mukdahan's tourist attractions.

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