News: 30 November 2022

Greetings from Chiang Mai! I’ve been working through a backlog of articles, including my trip report for Forest City from July this year. The article is available for paid subscribers, so thanks for the subscriber support.

I have been reassessing my social media system this month as well. With Twitter imploding on itself I have been looking at other channels. I have a personal and business account at LinkedIn, which might be a more appropriate place to reach professionals in the transport and urban development space. So if you on LinkedIn I have my own page and a page for Future Southeast Asia.

I also have a Mastodon account, which seems to be the site that has gained the most traction as an alternative. I am at https://mastodon.social/@nomadicnotes. I will wait for a more suitable server before setting up a separate account for Future Southeast Asia.

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

Kuantan Skytrain

I continue to profile proposed provincial urban rail transit systems of Southeast Asia.

Dispatches from Southeast Asia

Forest City - Futuristic city or farcical folly?

Find out as I frolic through the flora of this fake island. This is my on-the-ground review of Malaysia's mega land reclamation project in the Johor Strait.

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Cleared Phnom Tamao forest sculpted into park

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• The dirty road to clean energy: how China’s electric vehicle boom is ravaging the environment

• A skyscraper in Jakarta offers lessons for quake-prone Indonesia

• Indonesia's new capital predicted to have 1.9mn population by 2045

[Updated: Nusantara]

• Indonesia must be confident in ability to become developed: Widodo

• Canggu Road upgrades confirmed for 2023, locals fear it’s too little too late

• Policy brief: Maximising the effectiveness of the South Sulawesi railway line

🇱🇦 Laos

• Thriving on China's Belt and Road Initiative, Laos border town ditches kip for yuan

• Ground broken for construction of US$547 million logistics park

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Terengganu ECRL project progress exceeds 40 per cent, set for completion in 2026

[Updated: East Coast Rail Link]

• Fishermen's association hopes Anwar will scrap Penang reclamation project

• Undersea tunnel OK to be built 'on principle', Penang exco tells state assembly

• Penang exco says airport expansion plan to include anti-flash flood measures

🇲🇲 Myanmar

• 48 per cent completed for Yangon- Dala River Bridge construction

🇵🇭 Philippines

• DOTr asks for understanding as NCR lands near bottom of urban mobility index

• Senate restores ₱50 billion slashed budget from railway projects

• Is Manila Bay losing its marine life due to land reclamation?

• Cebu: P2-billion runway ‘ready’ by third quarter of 2023

• SMC ramps up projects for former Bulacan airport residents

[Updated: New Manila International Airport]

🇸🇬 Singapore

• SG drops to 4th place in 2022 urban mobility index: US study

• 6km of new cycling paths launched in Singapore’s central business district

• Singapore ranks 6th best country globally for construction workers

🇹🇭 Thailand

• ‘More vehicles than people’: Bangkok’s path to liveable city blocked

• TCC urges provincial push 

“Regional projects key to recovery, govt told.”• Bang Sue Grand Station: Thailand’s new rail hub finally ready to roll

“From January next year, all commercial trains will switch from the old Bangkok station of Hua Lamphong to Bang Sue, explained Nirut Maneephan, State Railway of Thailand (SRT) governor.”

• Bangkok creating 101 'pocket parks' on area twice the size of Lumpini Park

• B36bn gets nod for Don Mueang phase 3• B4.5bn spent to upgrade local airports

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Blockages remain on Vietnam's path to full logistics potential

• Vietnam's VinFast ships first electric vehicles to U.S. customers

• Another Hanoi's urban rail system to be tested early next month

• Are Hà Nội's pavements dangerous?

• Hanoi construction density from above