There has been some discussion about creating Pakse as a municipality prior to it
becoming a city, and it has also been suggested that this step is a requirement of the Law on
Local Administration. In fact there is no such requirement in the Law on Local AdministrationGiving Pakse municipality status under the provisions of the Law as it stands would seem to
have little merit, and could delay the designation of city status. The Law clearly states that
municipality is the same level as district (and in fact the section on municipalities comes after
the one on districts in the Law). It would therefore bring little advantage to Pakse, and by
accepting municipality status it would imply that Pakse authorities agree that it is a
municipality and not a city