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Every time two leaders in this part of the world get together they bring up the infrastructure projects they said they would build the last time they met. Vietnam Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President of China Xi Jinping met last week, so the Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong standard-gauge railway plan was brought up again. It’s unlikely to happen, especially while Vietnam has spent over a decade deciding how and when to rebuild the North-South line.

It got me wondering though about how often this plan to upgrade the current metre-gauge has been brought up, so that is the topic of this week’s article.

Lao Cai-Hanoi-Hai Phong Railway

News

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Easy highway, troubled city: How China wins and loses Cambodians’ hearts

• Cambodia plans to build three more deep-sea ports with direct access to US and Europe

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• 4 G20 deals Indonesia’s Jokowi wants to push to showcase his country’s growing clout

• As Xi visit draws near, delays haunt Jakarta-Bandung rail project

[Updated: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway]

• Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train is a long-term plan: Minister

• The construction of the Batam-Bintan Bridge is hampered by the land research survey

🇱🇦 Laos

• A new station added to Laos-China Railway freight operations

• Hanoi-funded Vientiane Justice and Prosecutor's office construction begins

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• “Let the land be”: culture, heritage, and economic development in Melaka

• Works commence on Langkasuka Village

[Updated: Langkasuka]

• Govt will continue with Penang Airport expansion project - Wee

• Tram in Melaka? Possible if BN wins 3 seats, says Wee

🇵🇭 Philippines

• Gov’t expects new international airport in Bulacan to start operations by 2027

[Updated: New Manila International Airport]

• Japan to lend ¥377B for North-South rail

• Japanese companies bag two subway contracts

• Government mulls sale of MRT 3

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Forest area the size of 43 football fields to be cleared for future Bayshore housing projects

• $640m train testing centre delayed by a year, first phase to open in 2023

🇹🇭 Thailand

• High-speed rail project 'behind schedule'

[Updated: Bangkok–Nong Khai High-Speed Railway]

• Massive expansion approved for U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport

• Attorney General asked to examine Bangkok’s Orange Line train project contract

• Grab Fury: Unhappy riders shut down Phetchaburi Road, execs refuse to talk

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Lego breaks ground on $1bn carbon-neutral factory in Vietnam

• Vietnam is luring tech giants out of China with flashy infrastructure projects

• Vietnam's second-biggest property developer faces cash crunch: Sources

• Vietnam considers high-speed rail line

"The Ministry of Planning and Investment has thrown its weight behind a North-South express railway with a maximum speed of 180-250 km per hour as proposed by the Ministry of Transport."

[Updated: North-South Express Railway]

• HCMC needs VND210 trillion to build six more metro lines

• Messy urban planning ruin cities' grand plan, aesthetics: lawmakers