Pakse district has a population just under that needed to become city at central level
in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Local Administration.
It is understood that
Pakse District has submitted an application in May 2011 to the Public Administration and
Civil Service Authority (PACSA) to become a city. According to PACSA, if the city was
established, Pakse would be placed directly under central government authority and would
be equivalent in status to a province. Local opinion within the Provincial Government,
however, is that to become a city, there is a need for it to have a number of constituent
districts (or municipalities)—meaning that all or parts of adjacent districts would need to be part of the city. However, this is not a criterion in the Law on Local Administration. According
to the vice-chairperson of the Public Administration and Civil Service Authority (PACSA), the
provincial governor of Champasack province is willing to establish Pakse municipality, and
PACSA fully supports this. He also indicated that a Pakse municipality could serve as pilot to
draw lessons for the establishment of similar municipalities in the future.