Is the next Singapore next to Singapore?

Last week I featured Johor Bahru, which has been styled as the Shenzhen of Southeast Asia (Johor Bahru is to Singapore like Shenzhen is to Hong Kong). Another city that has benefitted from its proximity to Singapore is Batam in Indonesia.

Batam is about 5 km away from Singapore at its closest point across the Singapore Strait, and about an hour away by one of the frequent ferry services. Batam is not going to be “the next Singapore” anytime soon, though it has prospered from being a cheaper industrial alternative.

Batam is best known for being an industrial centre, but there is a city of over one million people that live there, so I was curious to see what its future holds. This week’s articles feature the biggest projects underway and a proposed light rail line.

Latest Posts At Future Southeast Asia

• Future Batam

• Batam LRT

News

• Inside Southeast Asia’s casino scam archipelago

“Special Economic Zones and self-governing statelets across the Mekong region have become conduits for human trafficking on a massive scale.”

🇰🇭 Cambodia

• Japan loans Cambodia over $300 million to expand Sihanoukville deep-sea port

• Cambodian PM scraps development project threatening wildlife sanctuary

• Historic Battambang town bans billboards

“The Battambang town administration informed all house and business owners in Svay Por commune to remove all billboards by August 1 as it is preparing to submit the town to UNESCO for inclusion on its historical cultural heritage list.”

• Kampot canal banks to be cleared to make way for park

🇮🇩 Indonesia

• China begins to ship bullet trains to Indonesia

[Updated: Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway]

• KAI records Rp740 billion net profit in first half of 2022

• Indonesia Eyes to Host 2036 Olympics in New Capital Nusantara

[Updated: Nusantara - New Capital City of Indonesia]

🇱🇦 Laos

• On the ground in the heat of the Laos fuel crisis

• Laos-China Railway admits poor management

🇲🇾 Malaysia

• ECRL C2 section in Selangor to be completed in next 5 years

[Updated: East Coast Rail Link]

• Malaysia–China joint venture to develop 260ha logistics park at Kauntan port

• PM: Construction of phase two of Sarawak-Sabah Link Road to begin early next year

🇵🇭 Philippines

• DOTr eyes building new airports in at least 4 provinces

• Bulacan airport construction goes full blast to meet target

[Updated: New Manila International Airport]

• Senators prefer to partner with Japan over China on rail projects

• Philippine city charts a different path

“Iloilo, an opposition stronghold, pioneers a new approach to urban life.”

🇸🇬 Singapore

• S'pore to build tallest skyscraper with 63 storeys at 305m by 2028

🇹🇭 Thailand

• Cabinet approves Eastern Airport City

• Thailand hits accelerator on extension of China-Laos railway

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

• Bangkok Land signs deal to expand MRT Pink Line

• Man goes fishing in the road to prove a point in northeast Thailand

🇻🇳 Vietnam

• Work on Long Thanh airport’s terminal to start in October

[Updated: Long Thanh International Airport]

• HCMC to start test run of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line in early 2024

The test run was meant to be in 2022 (apart from the years that it is already delayed).

• Hanoi second metro depot unfinished after 9 years

• Vehicle segregation on Hanoi thoroughfare descends into chaos

• 51.3 million USD invested in Vinh – Nha Trang railway renovation, upgrade project

• Thousands of resettlement apartments abandoned in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City

• HCMC’s water supply, lifeblood of 13 million, faces serious problems

• Saigon extends Notre-Dame Cathedral renovation by 4 years to 2027

When the Paris Notre-Dame announced renovations, I said half-jokingly that the renovation of the Paris Notre-Dame Cathedral will be finished before the Saigon Notre-Dame Cathedral.