Border town in Yunnan thrives as China-Laos Railway boosts logistics

BEIJING, June 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from chinadaily.com.cn:

Mohan town, once a far-flung town in Southwest China's Yunnan province bordering Laos, is taking on a new profile as a booming international land port.

Since the China-Laos Railway was put into operation in December 2021, it has seen rapid development buoyed by increasingly smooth logistics.

The 1,035-kilometer line that runs between Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, leaves China via Mohan port.

Located at the two ends of the China-Laos Railway in China, Mohan and Kunming are closely connected by the international railway.

Moves to stimulate development pay dividends

In May 2022, Mohan was put under trusteeship of the provincial capital in the hope of shaping the border town into an international port and a highland of investment and international cooperation.

The Kunming city government has taken a slew of measures to improve the town's business environment, including stepping up infrastructure construction and establishing trading markets for border residents and international economic cooperation zones.

In January, a 40 million-yuan ($5.62 million) fund was allocated by the city government for the town's development.

Kunming's five major urban districts and Anning, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Kunming, have established a cooperation mechanism to help with the development of Mohan's six border villages, working out detailed planning for each village to improve local infrastructure and livelihoods.

The government's efforts to seek investment, including foreign investment, in the town also accelerated its transition from just a transportation link to an industrial economy.

In 2022, Mohan saw its total volume of imports and exports top 5.67 million tons, with a year-on-year growth of 58.2 percent. The total volume of foreign trade was valued at 43.34 billion yuan, nearly double that of the previous year.

The Mohan-Boten Cooperation Zone, a project aiming to promote trade, economic and industrial cooperation between China and Laos, saw the construction on 13 projects with a total investment of about 38.23 billion yuan, starting in the fourth quarter of 2022.

On May 20, officials from the General Administration of Customs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the National Immigration Administration visited Mohan Port. 

They applauded the progress made in the construction and development of Mohan Port and the Mohan-Boten Cooperation Zone. They urged for the acceleration of the construction of the zone and the improvement of the port's operational efficiency and capacity.

Mohan town is expecting more companies and investment, both at home and abroad, as the China-Laos Railway achieves new milestones.

By May 16, the railway had transported 20 million tons of goods, including four million tons of cross-border goods such as electronics, photovoltaic items and fruit.

The railway has invigorated economic and trade cooperation between China and related countries. In 2022, China and Laos saw an impressive increase of over 20 percent in bilateral trade.

More than 25 provincial regions of China have used the railway's cargo services to transport near 2,000 types of goods to South and Southeast Asian countries. They have also imported goods including metal ore, cassava and barley from the regions.

It has also cut transportation costs and improved the flow of goods between China and Laos, as well as other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The railway operator and local Customs authorities have joined hands to simplify Customs clearance procedures and strengthen data sharing to help greatly facilitate the flow of goods and reduce logistics costs, according to Miao Yingyou, deputy director of the cargo services department of the Kunming branch of China State Railway Group Co Ltd, the operator of the China-Laos Railway.

The World Bank estimated that with the help of the China-Laos Railway, the freight cost from Vientiane to Kunming has dropped by 40 to 50 percent, while Laos' domestic transportation routes have seen a 20 to 40 percent cost reduction.