The abandoned Koh Phangan Airport project

News #206: Phnom Penh airport rail and metro feasibility, Fifth Lao-Thai Mekong bridge, Sabah train plan, new passenger terminal building for NAIA, and more

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

Hello from Ho Chi Minh City! I arrived back in Vietnam today after my trip to Australia. I am refreshed (minus jetlag) and ready to resume coverage of transport and urban development in Southeast Asia.

While I was in Australia I moved the newsletter delivery system over to Beehiiv, and it seems to be working as expected. I also pondered what other changes and tweaks to make to the newsletter. I have a section for paid subscribers called News Extra. This is an additional news section with extra editorial. I will also use this as an infrastructure blog, so I will be posting notes about my travels over the next few months.

This week’s main article is about the abandoned airport project of Koh Phangan. There is also a user-submitted guest post about how to make a street in Johor Bahru more pedestrian-friendly. I accept guest articles on making cities in Southeast Asia a better place, so feel free to send in an article pitch.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

Ko Phangan Airport is an abandoned airport project on Ko Pha-ngan, Surat Thani Province, Thailand.

This is by a resident of Johor Bahru who has provided a diagram of how to turn a car-clogged street in JB into a more pedestrian-friendly space.

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

“Sand mining is fuelling Cambodia's construction boom but how damaging is it to the environment?”

🇮🇩 Indonesia

“Although many investors have claimed to have sent letters of interest, they appear to be more inclined to wait and see the project's progress.”

🇱🇦 Laos

🇲🇾 Malaysia

The Batang Lupar 1 Bridge will be the longest river crossing in Malaysia (4.8 km).

 🇲🇲 Myanmar

🇵🇭 Philippines

🇸🇬 Singapore

🇹🇭 Thailand

“An ordinance directing the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to pay a debt of 23 billion baht to Bangkok Mass Transit System Plc (BTSC) for previous work on Green Line skytrain extensions was published in the Royal Gazette on Tuesday.”

“Phuket's rapid urbanisation has brought soaring property prices and highlighted its insufficient infrastructure.”

🇻🇳 Vietnam

Support Future Southeast Asia

Upgrade to a paid subscription to get more news and trip reports from my travels around Southeast Asia.

Reply

or to participate.