Future Southeast Asia News [26 Nov 2025]

The proposed high-speed metro in Ho Chi Minh City, dredging work on Funan Techo Canal to start in December, Jakarta is now the world's largest city, Kota Kinabalu Light Rail, DOTr begins right-of-way acquisition for Mindanao Railway, Korat Orange Line, Vietnam studies new island airport

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James Clark
November 26, 2025

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

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I have two articles about the same topic this week. The first article is a factsheet that introduces the proposed Ben Thanh - Can Gio metro in HCMC. The second article is my editorial on this unusual proposal.

If the proposed Can Gio metro line in Ho Chi Minh City is built, it will be the fastest metro line in the world and the world's shortest high-speed railway.

Recent articles

Phnom Penh studies metro system, Bali metro stalls, Penang starts LRT construction, 3 lines under construction in Manila, Cebu subway, Pattaya monorail plan, HCMC opens first metro line, and 2 other unusual metro plans for Vietnam.

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News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

🇮🇩 Indonesia

Here is the full UN report.

"There is a policy vacuum in the land use and zoning of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, as most developments along the route focus on real estate rather than multimodal access or job creation."

🇱🇦 Laos

🇲🇾 Malaysia

 🇵🇭 Philippines

🇸🇬 Singapore

🇹🇭 Thailand

"Southern Thailand’s severe flood crisis derails Hat Yai’s real estate boom, prompting a major reassessment of development risk and infrastructure resilience."

"The new Orange Line, which replaces the previously approved Green Line based on local input, will span 18.9 kilometers and include 20 stations."

"The battle over a historic Chinese temple slated to be lost to commercial development pits property logic against moral geography."

"The planned Land Bridge megaproject and its deep-sea ports in the South pose no environmental threats because the seas there are already barren -- or so the government's study claims. Science, however, shows the opposite."

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Latest images from Long Thanh International Airport [Vietnam Investment Review]

"Long Thanh Airport has nearly 14,000 personnel and more than 1,000 pieces of machinery working around the clock, with many components running 3-5 months ahead of schedule to ensure operations can begin by December this year."

I didn't know about the history of Thổ Châu Island, let alone where it was on the map (Google Maps).

One news group was trying to connect this as a response to the Ream Naval Base in Cambodia (unlikely). There was also false news circulating in Cambodia that Vietnam was building a bridge to Phu Quoc.

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