News: 5 October 2022

Latest posts at Future Southeast Asia

• Future Hanoi

Dispatches from Southeast Asia

• The stagnation of Vietnam's railways

The perpetually proposed North-South Express Railway, reduced and suspended services in the north, and the relocation of Hanoi station to outside the city centre.

News

• China reins in its Belt and Road program, $1 trillion later

“After loans have gone sour and projects have stalled, Beijing is revamping its troubled initiative.”

• Airport projects in Thailand, Singapore resume after COVID hiatus

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville expressway opens to the public

• Another Cambodian island to be developed

• Land swap detailed: Firm gets 69 hectares for $10M construction

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Indonesia presents China-made high-speed train cars, and Xi Jinping, Joko Widodo to test Indonesia’s China-made high-speed train after G20 meeting in Bali

[Updated: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway]

• Bali governor announces electric vehicle zones for tourism hotspots by 2023

• Barriers erected to repel motorcyclists from using sidewalks ahead of the G20 Summit in Bali

• Bali governor asks public to stop complaining about traffic jams

• Indonesia's sinking villages look to nature to restore mangroves

🇱🇦 Laos

• Luang Namtha residents receive houses from Laos-China Railway

• Lao Airlines cancels flights from Vientiane to Oudomxay

This might be the first instance in Southeast Asia where an airline route has been cancelled due to the introduction of a more competitive railway route.

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• UAE invited to participate in Bandar Malaysia, says PM

[Updated: Bandar Malaysia]

• More public spaces, sidewalks to be included in George Town’s replacement special area plan

🇵🇭 Philippines

• With loan application to China withdrawn, Mindanao Railway further derailed

[Updated: Mindanao Railway Project]

• DOTr: Philippines still pursuing China loans for railway projects

• Work begins on 'crown jewel' Metro Manila Subway Project

• President opens Clark airport terminal, eyes PH as logistics hub

• Bulacan Special Economic Zone: A well-planned and spacious Silicon Valley needed

• DPWH ramping up engineering design of Bataan - Cavite interlink bridge

• Aboitiz wants Mactan airport to become ‘smart airport’

🇸🇬 Singapore

• 4 public housing estates to be zoned as car-lite areas, prioritising public facilities, green spaces

• Yinson begins construction of new electric cargo vessel

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Pristine bay in Phuket under threat from marina developers

• Bangkok considers asking drivers to pay as traffic roars back

• Cabinet approves 3.85bn for Siriraj station and hospital facility

”The cabinet has approved 3.85 billion baht for the construction of Siriraj station and hospital facility, connecting the Light Red and Orange lines and making Siriraj Hospital the first in Thailand with direct access from a train station.”

• Fast and furious no more? Bangkok's infamous No.8 bus

• Bang Sue Grand Station gets official name granted by King

“Thailand’s largest railway hub, currently known as Bang Sue Grand Station, will be officially named “Krungthep Abhiwat Central Terminal”, according to the Transport Ministry.”

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Gridlocked and flood-prone, Vietnam’s biggest city struggles to keep pace with its own breakneck growth

• Vietnam becomes Asia’s economic leader as China’s growth decelerates

• Expansion of Noi Bai International Airport to kick off in 2025

• Phu Quoc to raze 79 illegal villas

• Vietnam’s Nha Trang allows vehicle travel on under-construction interchange