Hongsa 4.01

Hongsa is a town in northwestern Laos. It is located in Hongsa District in Sainyabuli Province. The town is northwest of the provincial capital Sainyabuli. Nearby Ban Viengkeo is a rotating host to a major elephant festival. The district is also the site of a controversial coal-fired power plant to begin operation in 2015.EconomyThe economy of Hongsa, previously based around agriculture and some tourism, is being transformed by the Hongsa power plant. Plant construction is providing about 3,000 jobs and average local incomes have already risen sharply. Once the plant goes online, local officials anticipate further employment growth with the creation of factories to export to Thailand and other ASEAN nations.Sights and attractionsThe annual Elephant Festival, held in February each year, has attracted increasing numbers of visitors to the province. In 2008, the festival attracted more than 50,000 visitors. The venue of the festival rotates between nearby Ban Viengkeo, Pak Lay and Sainyabuli. The festival is one of a number of projects by organiser Elefantasia to conserve and raise awareness of Laos's elephant population.One of the town's monasteries, Wat Simungkhun, contains a stone platform allegedly covering a hole "leading to the end of the world".The area's most visible man-made structure is the tall chimney stack of the Hongsa power plant.Power plant and environmental concernsThe Hongsa power plant will be a lignite-fired plant supplying the majority of its electricity to neighbouring Thailand. The project cost is estimated at US$3.7 billion with scheduled completion in 2015. The plant is 80 percent Thai-owned, with the remaining 20 percent held by the Lao government. When it goes online, capacity will be 1,878 megawatts, of which 1,500 MW will be exported to Thailand. The plant, and associated lignite mine, will be Laos's largest.