A new seaside park in the sea off Penang

News #215: Cambodia's Funan Techo Canal, Putrajaya tram, Johor Bahru ART, a monorail for Phuket, the design for Vietnam's future tallest building

Author

James Clark
May 22, 2024

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

Hello from Hat Yai. After a month in Indonesia, I departed Makassar on an AirAsia flight to KL. The only other international flights from Makassar are a service to Singapore and seasonal Hajj flights to Jeddah and Medina. I was impressed to see that Garuda operates a 747 for these flights.

Garuda 747 at UPG Airport.

While waiting for my flight I saw another Garude 747 arrive, which seemed odd. It wasn't until later on that I found out it was a replacement plane as the other plane had an engine failure.

There were 25 passengers at the gate when my flight boarded. While getting a row to yourself is nice, my main thought was how long would this route survive. It wasn't until we boarded that busloads of pilgrims on another Hajj tour filled up the plane.

I noticed in Sumatra that there were more Hajj flights than international regional flights. I was also thinking about the recent announcement that Indonesia is reducing the number of international airports.

My month in Indonesia was anchored around train travel on four islands, and I figured that stories would find me as I moved around. I have many things to write about Indonesia, including its lack of tourism outside of Bali, and the state of rail and air transport. I also have a “Bad Urban Design” feature for a city I visited.

From KL I got the train to Penang, which is somewhere I usually visit once a year. From Penang, I got the train to Hat Yai in Thailand. This was my first time crossing the border by rail, which was the main reason I took the trip. I am visiting all of the international rail crossings in Southeast Asia, and my future crossings will be from Laos to China and then back to Vietnam.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

This week's main article is about a new park that has been built (is that the right word?) on reclaimed land in Penang. The park is huge (by Southeast Asia standards) and a new park is so rare that it deserves its own page. I have already made a page for the Penang South Islands and Andaman Island in Penang, so I'm adding this newest reclamation project to the list.

I am still left with many unanswered questions though. There was meant to be an entrance for a car tunnel to the mainland here, as well as new buildings near the park.

Read the article here.

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

🇮🇩 Indonesia

🇲🇾 Malaysia

 🇵🇭 Philippines

"Alliance Global Group Inc. (AGI), the holding company of tycoon Andrew Tan, remains keen on pushing through with its Skytrain monorail project that will link Fort Bonifacio to the MRT Guadalupe Station even after almost seven years since the unsolicited proposal was submitted to the government."

🇸🇬 Singapore

🇹🇭 Thailand

“The government has announced its development plan to upgrade Phuket's transportation infrastructure, including a new monorail system connecting the airport and Phuket Town.”

🇻🇳 Vietnam

"Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha decided to set up a task force in charge of accelerating urban railway projects in Hanoi and HCM City."

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