After five years of negotiations over the rail line, Laos finally got a better deal. Laos has an $800 million loan from China’s Export-Import Bank and agreed to form a joint venture with China that will borrow much of the rest.

Still, Laos faces a huge debt burden. The International Monetary Fund warned this year that the country’s reserves stood at two months of prospective imports of goods and services. It also expressed concerns that public debt could rise to around 70 percent of the economy.

As construction gathers steam, nearby communities are starting to rumble.

Farmers are balking at giving up their land. Some members of the national assembly have raised questions about property rights.

At Miss Mai’s Noodle Shop here, a customer, Mr. Sipaseuth, who said he used only one name, pondered the project over a glass of icy Beer Lao.

In the past, he said, the government had promised $10 for an acre of land worth about $100. “But then they never paid it,” Mr. Sipaseuth added.

Was the rail project good for Laos?

“We need civilization. Laos is very poor, very underdeveloped,” he said. “But how many Chinese will come here? Too many is not a good idea.”