Future Southeast Asia News [31 Dec 2025]

Indonesia's no traffic metropolis, Fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge officially opens, Johor–Singapore RTS Link inaugural train test, ‘Smart City’ rises on a former US base, Vietnam North–South high-speed railway project to break ground in late 2026.

Author

James Clark
December 31, 2025

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

Greetings from Phnom Penh! I am seeing out the new year in Cambodia before returning to Vietnam.

I have been on a reduced publishing schedule over the holiday period, which has given me some time to make some changes to the site. As of next week/next year, the newsletter will be sent via the main URL (futuresoutheastasia.com) and not the subdomain (news.futuresoutheastasia.com). I will also be changing the publishing format and what is published for premium subscribers. More on that next week once the migration has begun.

Thanks for subscribing to Future Southeast Asia, and I look forward to bringing you more news about transport and urban development in Southeast Asia in 2026!

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

🇮🇩 Indonesia

“Indonesia is building a new, green city in the jungle. Its future is far from certain, but new residents like living there.”

"Jakarta and its sprawling environs’ 42mn inhabitants are now the most populous conurbation, according to the UN."

🇱🇦 Laos

"The 'Siphandone Special Economic Zone' on the Mekong River has been granted to Chinese investors for 99 years. They harbor grand ambitions but are struggling to realize them, with construction projects at a standstill."

• Luang Prabang is drowning in white vans. [Sanya Souvanna Phouma]

"And why managing traffic is now a cultural emergency."

🇲🇾 Malaysia

"Scores of motorists have been stopping on the bridge road known as Jalan Andaman every day, because the panorama from there is just too beautiful to resist."

"We are currently treating the Southern West Coast Expressway (WCE) and the High-Speed Rail (HSR) as separate projects. If we build the highway now and try to squeeze the train in later, we guarantee decades of duplicated land acquisition costs, legal battles, and community disruption."

 🇲🇲 Myanmar

🇵🇭 Philippines

"An Aeta tribe races to prove their ancestral land claims before a ‘Smart City’ and a ‘Taylor Swift-ready’ stadium displace them."

"New bus routes, roads, bridges, and airport upgrades in 2025 cut travel time, ease congestion, and boost mobility."

🇸🇬 Singapore

"The 2025 masterplan was gazetted on Dec 1, 2025, giving us a glimpse of how our city might evolve in the future."

"When KTM finally unveiled its Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru electric train service (ETS) on Dec 12 – after around seven years of construction – one thing was greeted with a collective sigh: the long journey time of nearly 4.5 hours."

"Frustrated by what he sees as gaps in official signage, Mr Vareck Ng has been putting up his own signs to help commuters – although they don't always stay up."

🇹🇭 Thailand

"An investigation into the 28 March 2025 collapse of Bangkok's SAO tower, exploring the human cost, flawed construction, and systemic corruption it exposed."

🇹🇱 Timor-Leste

🇻🇳 Vietnam

"Ho Chi Minh City has proposed building a 15-kilometer cable car linking Co Ong Airport with the center of Con Dao, aiming to ease future congestion while limiting damage to the island’s forests."

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