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Infrastructure in Asia

Infrastructure in Asia
The politics and economics behind Asia's big-ticket infrastructure projects.
Passengers take selfies in a carriage on the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway in Indonesia on October 17, 2023. Photo: Xinhua
Belt and Road Initiative

Indonesia eyes China for massive 2,772km railway project – with caution

As Jakarta explores foreign backing for the Trans-Kalimantan railway, analysts say costly past ventures could shape any coming negotiations.

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Infrastructure

Can the new Pinglu Canal become China’s Yangtze of the southwest?

China exports

China launches Pinglu Canal, slashing transit time to Southeast Asia

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Belt and Road 2026

Ancient Silk Road to modern Belt and Road: how Hong Kong bridges China and the Middle East

As the Middle East seeks economic diversification, Hong Kong acts as the financial gateway for investment.

In 2025, the Middle East was Hong Kong’s 10th largest trading partner, with bilateral trade in goods of HK$192.8 billion, making it a significant stand in the various t rade networks that make up the Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: Karim Sahib, AFP
Banking & finance

Pooling power: how AIIB plans to quadruple capital for Asia’s infrastructure

The bank is building a pooled-capital platform to draw insurers, pension funds and other investors into Asia’s infrastructure debt.

North Korea

North Korea, Russia open first road bridge in ‘new symbol of friendship’

The bridge can allow up to 300 vehicles to cross every day and will be linked ‌to Russia’s federal road network, says PM Mikhail Mishustin.

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Banking & finance

China signals urgency over construction timelines amid investment decline

The NDRC urges faster work on major projects and the six networks initiative to reverse falling investment.

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Workers at a train station construction site for a train station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images
China trade

China’s US$10.8b short cut: new Pinglu Canal prepares to supercharge Asean trade

Delivery of first command vessel looks to signal imminent opening of megaproject connecting inland factories directly to Southeast Asian markets such as Vietnam.

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Accidents and disasters in China

Himalayan glacier collapse hits China-Nepal trade route as casualties mount

Tragedy at Gyirong hub lays bare climate risks along fragile mountain corridor.

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Xinjiang

From mountains to sea: China’s plan to ring the nation with highways

The vast ‘border-coast loop’ is designed to boost development and national unity, but will have to navigate geopolitical and ecological barriers.

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The G219 highway is part of China’s plan for a vast new road link running along the country’s borders and coastline. Photo: Handout
Wealth: Alternative Investments

AI-driven asset demand is reshaping Asia-Pacific’s investment landscape

Vast demand for infrastructure, fuelled by digitalisation and the energy transition, offers solid opportunities for private capital across the region.

Supported by
Standard Chartered Global Private Bank
India is a big growth story – KKR’s Hardik Shah and his team have committed over US$1 billion across the country’s renewable energy projects, led by companies like Serentica and Hero Future Energies. Photo: Getty Images
Banking & finance

AIIB explores digital payments, eyes Hong Kong hub as it raises record funds

The development bank aims to raise a record US$11 billion this year, as it continues to broaden its operations, according to a senior official.

Climate change

Macroscope | Who pays when overheated roads melt and rails buckle?

Costs are mounting from the damage caused by extreme weather on roads, railways, bridges and other basic infrastructure.

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Energy

Asia’s AI boom has a dirty secret: the coal that powers it

In the rush to build the digital future, regional tech hubs are digging up the past.

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Illustration: Huy Truong
Singapore

New Johor rail link: a US$815m challenge for Singapore’s retail and F&B

A new study has proposed measures to help Singapore businesses seize opportunities from the cross-border link, set to open in 2027.

A view of the tracks of the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System (RTS) Link running past the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on July 6. Photo: Reuters
Banking & finance

Open Questions | AIIB head Zou Jiayi on multilateralism as ‘infrastructure of global trust’

As the Beijing-based development bank marks its 10th anniversary, its president says institutions like hers ‘create certainty amid uncertainty’.

The Philippines

Will Marcos’ shipbuilding push deliver lasting capacity for Philippines?

The expansion of the West Cebu Industrial Park aims to strengthen the Philippines’ defence and economy, and cement dominance in shipbuilding.

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Banking & finance

Open Questions | AIIB chief Zou Jiayi on financing Asia’s green transition

President of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on how it bridges differences to build a more sustainable, climate-resilient world.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
China travel

‘Smaller but smart’ Shenzhen station to redraw China’s infrastructure blueprint

Tech hub’s biggest station will make regional travel easier, but some Shenzhen residents worry it is too small relative to other rail hubs.

The Philippines

Philippine rescuers race to free workers trapped after hotel collapse

Authorities are unable to rely on excavators and other machinery for fear that the rubble could shift and bury any survivors deep beneath the wreckage.

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Belt and Road Initiative

China’s new US$10.7 billion canal near completion to boost Asean trade links

The Pinglu Canal – a US$10 billion waterway connecting China’s heartlands to the Gulf of Tonkin – will begin trial operations as soon as September.

The Pinglu Canal runs through Qinzhou in China’s southern Guangxi region. Photo: Xinhua
Thailand

‘Lives are cheap here’: Thailand reels from deadly Bangkok train crash

A drug-positive train driver with no licence. A barrier raised too late. Thailand’s capital asks: when will the city finally fix itself?

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Residents inspect the site of Saturday’s deadly train crash in Bangkok where flowers have been laid in memory of the eight people killed. Photo: Aidan Jones
Vietnam

Vietnam’s US$5 billion Apec island is running out of time

Phu Quoc is a test case for Vietnam’s build-fast model. But with 18 months to go, the island is short of workers, diesel and hotel rooms.

China trade

How a China-backed highway may turn landlocked Laos into a trade gateway

The project is part of wider efforts to build overland trade corridors linking southern China with the Mekong region.

Diplomacy

Opinion | As power flows through submarine cables, law of the sea must evolve

The global commons of the seabed is in effect being governed by private actors with the capital and tech to build and maintain cable systems.

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An Estonian naval ship sails in the Baltic Sea on January 9, 2025, as part of stepped-up Nato patrols in the region following suspected sabotage of undersea cables. Photo: AP
Sri Lanka

Elephant in room: can Sri Lanka’s ‘world’s emptiest airport’ attract investors?

Since opening in 2013, Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport has failed to generate enough revenue to cover even its electricity bills.

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in Sri Lanka. Photo: Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport
Thailand

Bridge too far? Hormuz crisis revives Thailand’s controversial plan

While the plan to bypass the Malacca Strait is popular with Anutin’s government, economists and environmentalists say it is not realistic.

Belt and Road Initiative

As US-Iran war chokes Hormuz, can ‘Middle Corridor’ rise to the rescue?

Logistics route via Central Asia, South Caucasus, Caspian Sea and Turkey said to be ‘experiencing massive operational momentum’.

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