Future Southeast Asia News #281

Airport rail links to HCMC's new airport, Thailand airports map, Laos launches SE Asia’s largest wind farm, electric train service to halve JB-KL travel time, Samar-Leyte and Panay railway study, Singapore coastal barriers, financing the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong railway

Author

James Clark
September 03, 2025

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

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There are different plans to connect Ho Chi Minh City to its new airport by rail, but not a single line has begun construction months before the airport is expected to open.

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News

🇧🇳 Brunei

🇰🇭 Cambodia

"After nearly seven decades of serving as the country’s main international gateway, Phnom Penh International Airport – Cambodia’s first and oldest airport – is bidding farewell to the world, paving the way for a bigger and more modern airport."

"The Sihanoukville Provincial Administration has given residents living near Sihanoukville International Airport 15 days to move to designated plots. They will dismantle any remaining illegal structures on state-owned land."

🇮🇩 Indonesia

"The President has set up a new body to manage the mega seawall project on Java's northern coast, leaving observers wondering about its feasibility and capacity amid a swelling bureacracy and a strained budget."

🇱🇦 Laos

• Mekong embankment nears completion [Vientiane Times]

"Construction of an embankment along the Mekong River in Vientiane is now almost 90 percent complete and will provide the capital with vital flood defences and a new public recreational area upon its planned completion in 2026."

🇲🇾 Malaysia

"KTM’s newly appointed acting CEO Ahmad Nizam Mohamed Amin tells CNA that the ETS, which will extend from its existing route to Johor Bahru by end-2025, could “revolutionise” transport options in the peninsula."

"Balaji Srinivasan wants to design a new kind of nation state, and he’s making a troubled megaproject a testbed for his ideas."

"Citing the need for Malaysia’s national rail operator to be profitable, KTM’s acting CEO tells CNA in an interview that one key revenue stream will come from reviving stalled freight services between Kuala Lumpur and Chongqing in southwestern China."

"The 1.28km cable-stayed bridge across the Sarawak River at Sejingkat is now expected to be completed by March 2026, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas."

 🇲🇲 Myanmar

🇵🇭 Philippines

"To address the flooding woes in the National Capital Region, the Metropolitan Manila Development (MMDA) is planning to build five underground cisterns, including one in University of Santo Tomas in España, Manila and another Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City."

🇸🇬 Singapore

"The proposed coastal protection measures will complement the previously announced Long Island at East Coast to provide a continuous line of defence, said national water agency PUB."

"Members of a quiet coastal community in the country’s northeast say they have been “waiting indefinitely” to be pushed out."

🇹🇭 Thailand

"The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has announced that it has successfully improved over 1,100 kilometres of sidewalks along Bangkok’s roads, aiming to make the city more pedestrian-friendly, including for wheelchair users and the blind."

"The Department of Highways (DoH) has announced that the M81 motorway, connecting Bang Yai to Kanchanaburi, will be fully operational by the end of this year."

🇻🇳 Vietnam

"PM Chinh requested AIIB’s assistance in mobilising finance for the Lao Cai – Hanoi– Hai Phong railway line, connecting Vietnam with China, and an electricity grid linking Vietnam with the ASEAN region."

"The airport is designed to handle about 30 million passengers and 1.6 million tons of cargo annually by 2030."

"Tuy Hoa Airport in the former central province of Phu Yen (now Dak Lak) will be upgraded to the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) 4C standards, with a capacity of 3 million passengers per year by 2030."

"The government’s plans to bar petrol motorbikes from the city centre next year have been widely greeted with scepticism."

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