Southeast Asia transport and construction news (#244)

The Future Southeast Asia Newsletter features transport and urban development news in Southeast Asia, edited by James Clark.

Hello from Ha Tien in the southwest corner of Vietnam. I crossed the land border from Cambodia here and I’m returning to Ho Chi Minh City to see the first metro line. Yes, after years of delays (and years of me complaining about it), Line 1 of the HCMC Metro will open on 22 December. It is business as usual on Christmas Day in this part of the world, so I will also be posting a Christmas edition newsletter.

My Cambodia trip covered the main cities on the national train line (Poipet, Battambang, Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, Kampot, and Kep). I was in Sihanoukville on the weekend, and it is still shocking how many empty buildings there are. I was also stunned to see a new mega project underway, which I have made a fact sheet about in this week’s feature article. I will have at least two articles about Sihanoukville in the coming months, in addition to reports on the other cities I visited in Cambodia.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

• Peninsula Bay: Mixed-use development in Sihanoukville, Cambodia

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News

• ASEAN aims to boost intra-regional trade through better transport connectivity

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Weaknesses in Mekong River governance: the case of the Funan Techo Canal

• Sihanoukville revitalises “ghost” buildings with 101 projects underway

• Phnom Penh port sees one-fifth jump of cargo handled Jan-Nov

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• The implication of the unfinished infrastructure in the new Indonesian capital city of IKN

• Property owners want fair compensation for land acquired for Indonesia’s new capital

• Prabowo pitches seawall project to Japanese firms

• More than one year later, stalled relocation blights project on Rempang Island in Indonesia

🇱🇦 Laos

• Lao government sign USD 150 million agreement with Asian Development Bank for four projects

• Fruits of spoil: Laos’ forests disappearing as fruit farms flourish 

"The country’s improved railway connectivity facilitates fruit exports to China but has also sparked a boom in foreign-owned banana and durian farms, leading to forest clearance."

• Laos, Vietnam take steps to complete agreed upon construction projects

• Third Lao National Urban Forum opens in Vientiane: A platform for transforming urban development in Laos

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Planned terminal expansion will almost double KLIA's capacity

• Penang LRT project to proceed regardless of government changes, says Rafizi

• ECRL project hits 76pc completion as of November, on track for 2026 launch, says MRL CEO

• Cabinet set to decide on KL-Singapore HSR revival by end Dec or early Jan, says Loke

• Malaysia to boost Thai rail links with eye on pan-Asian network

 🇵🇭 Philippines

• Environmental groups ask SC to stop reclamation, dredging in Manila Bay

• Bulakan sinking; world-class airport city project may be at risk

• Philippine tourism faces uphill battle amid infra woes, crime, China tensions

🇸🇬 Singapore

• SMRT conducts annual flood preparedness exercise at one-north MRT station

🇹🇭 Thailand

• B300bn allocated for six double-track railway projects

• Ambitious land bridge project set to take off next year, says Suriya

• Purple Line extension '50% done'

• Survey finds Bangkok's most congested roads

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Hanoi plans to start work on metro line 2 next year

• Hanoi plans to build nearly 600 km of urban railway by 2045

• Lào Cai-Hà Nội-Hải Phòng railway line to start construction in 2025

• Gov't mulls over Ho Chi Minh City-Can Tho railway project

• HCMC targets to relocate 46,000 houses along canals by 2030

• Da Nang proposes 300-hectare sea reclamation for free trade zone

• Small-scale investors are building Vietnam’s EV charging network

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