Ho Chi Minh City construction update - Volume IV

All tunnels drilled through on Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway, Malaysia considers Korean-built maglev for city transport, Bangkok's Yellow, Pink lines to open for limited trial next year, and more

Hello from Hoi An! I’m on the road again, collecting information for some future articles.

This week’s feature article is the 4th annual Ho Chi Minh City construction update. I started doing these construction updates at Nomadic Notes, with the first construction update for HCMC appearing in 2015. It soon became evident that I needed a new sight away from my travel site so I can go deeper into construction, transport, and infrastructure.

These construction updates are like a time machine. I look back at the 2015 post and see how much has changed since then. And now that travel is fully open in Southeast Asia I will be doing annual posts for the major cities.

Latest Posts At Future Southeast Asia

Ho Chi Minh City construction update – 2022 edition

News

• Robot boats gobble plastic waste from Vietnam to Malaysia

• Rethinking air conditioning amid climate change

It’s been blazing hot in Central Vietnam this month, and a/c has been essential. I also think about the impact of air conditioning whenever I see a bank of a/c units like this. I will make a resource page about air conditioning in Southeast Asia.

[Air conditioning in Da Nang.]

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Gone the way of the cyclo? Khmer tuk-tuk not finished yet, say drivers

• Techo International Airport over 33 percent work completed

[Updated: New Phnom Penh Airport]

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• Gov't expedites basic infrastructure development in new capital

[Updated: Nusantara – New Capital City of Indonesia]

• Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway hits new milestone, all tunnels drilled through

[Updated: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway]

• Overrun by hotels, resorts, bars, Bali’s new travel hotspots fall one by one to uncontrolled development on west coast

• Indonesia's transportation minister in Japan to offer infrastructure project

• Malaysian conglomerates eye mega projects in Indonesia worth RM7 bil

🇱🇦 Laos

• Money flows: Who's investing in Laos, and what problems do they present?

• Vientiane Logistics Park on track to make Laos ‘a regional logistics centre’, developer tells lawmakers

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• Minister: 1,547 lots of land in Kelantan acquired and gazetted for ECRL

[Updated: East Coast Rail Link]

• Malaysia considers Korean-built maglev for city transport

• MB: Kelantan to see huge leap in economic growth due to approval of new projects

• Joint venture company wins contract for System Package 1 KUTS Project to improve mobility in Greater Kuching

[Updated: Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) Kuching]

🇲🇲 Myanmar

• Under pressure: why Yangon’s groundwater is slipping out of reach

🇵🇭 Philippines

• SMC secures deal for new Metro Manila expressway

• Philippine tycoon Razon eyes up to $473m infrastructure arm IPO

“Casino and ports billionaire plans to build world's largest solar power project.”

• Davao Oriental sees Imelda Marcos’ airport opening after about 5 decades

🇸🇬 Singapore

• Aurecon wins design consultant role on Singapore light rail depot extension

🇹🇭 Thailand

• MRTA offers to take over Green Line

• Hopewell, govt trade threats

“Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has downplayed a threat from Hopewell (Thailand) Co regarding a criminal lawsuit against the government for failing to pay several billion baht in compensation over a cancelled transport project about two decades ago.”

• Yellow, Pink lines to open for limited trial next year

• Central Bangkok redevelops around new green heart

• Chadchart plans new walking streets in Bangkok

• Neo Pattaya on back burner for now

• If Future Southeast Asia was a thing in 1542, then the news of the Chao Phraya River shortcut canals would have been a big story. @bkkgreg (who occasionally guest posts here) made a map of the Chao Phraya River before and after the canals were dug.

Greg @BkkGreg

I made a map comparing what the Chao Phraya River looked like before three major shortcut canals were dug in 1542, 1636 and 1722, and what it looks like today. They saved roughly 41km off the original route.

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Vietnam's first metro line operator records $2.7 mln loss in 2021

• No more time for delays to Long Thành Airport

[Updated: Long Thanh International Airport]

• Mekong Delta eyes rapid development of renewable energy

• $1.9 billion allocated to build Mekong Delta expressway

• Vietnam approves tourism complex in northern highlands commune

“Authorities in northern Lao Cai Province have approved planning for a 3,100-hectare urban tourism complex in Y Ty Commune, famed for its stunning rice terraces.”

[Updated: Future Sa Pa / Lao Cai Province]