The road and railway sectors form a part not just of the infrastructure in a country but are also crucial pillars on which the foundation of an economy rests. With the same view in mind, countries in the Southeast Asian region are stepping up their game in both these sectors. All of these countries are currently witnessing some major development or the other in the aforementioned sectors.

An outline

The total road network in all the Southeast Asian countries taken together stood at roughly 1.76 million km in 2017 which is a 3.27 per cent improvement over the previous year’s figure. A tremendous increase in the road network was shown by Thailand to the tune of 21.29 per cent in 2017 over 2016. Additionally, Singapore stands out with 100 per cent of its road network being paved. Not far behind are the Philippines (94.42 per cent) and Brunei (93.68 per cent). Though Cambodia registered only 17.37 per cent of paved road network, it displayed a considerable increase of 21.42 per cent in its paved road network which jumped from 8,800 km in 2016 to 10,685.28 km in 2017.

As per the World Bank’s Global Competitiveness Report 2018, Singapore is the best performer in the quality of roads. Apart from S ingapore, Malaysia has been able to make a standing in the top 20 countries in quality of roads. Cambodia and Vietnam lagged behind.

Taken together, eight Southeast Asian countries excluding Brunei and Singapore had an aggregate railway network of 21,873 km in 2017 as against a network of 21,463 km in 2016. This accounts for an increase of 1.91 per cent in 2017 over 2016.

With the possible exception of Malaysia, Indonesia and Myanmar, other countries (excluding Brunei and Singapore) of the Southeast Asian region showed no addition to the railway route network. Of these three countries, Malaysia made the highest addition of 192 km to its railway network in 2017 vis-à-vis 2016.

Furthermore, these eight countries have an experienced an increase of 2.03 per cent in passengers carried from 817,859 passengers in 2016 to 834,472 passengers in 2017.

Emerging trends

High speed rail (HSR): The Jakarta-Bandung HSR project, in Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s first HSR project, has been able to make significant headway at its 22 key construction sites as of July 2018. Many breakthroughs have been made in regard to licensing and financing issues. Based on Chinese technological standards, a nearly 142 km long rail line connects the Indonesian capital Jakarta with West Java’s capital Bandung. A major share of funding will be sourced from the China Development Bank. A China-Indonesia consortium of companies, Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), will be carrying out the project. The expected cost of the project is around $5 billion.

A strategic project between the Malaysian government and the Singapore government  is the 350 km long Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR. As on September 5, 2018, both the concerned parties have agreed to suspend the construction of this project till May 31, 2020. As per the new agreement, HSR express service is likely to commence from January 1, 2031 instead of the earlier date of December 31, 2026.

For an HSR project in Thailand bids have been received as of July 2018. This 220 km rail line connecting Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and U-tapao airports has been deemed the first large infrastructure project to be constructed in the Eastern Economic Corridor investment zone in Thailand. The estimated cost of the project is around 225 billion baht. At present, the bidding process is being supervised by the state-owned railway operator, the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).

Toll roads: Indonesia has been making a lot of development with respect to toll roads. Apart from the two most important toll road projects that are being undertaken in Indonesia, the 1,187 km trans-Java toll road and the 2,840 km trans-Sumatra toll road, the Indonesian government has recently launched the Banda Aceh-Sigli toll road project. The toll road will connect Aceh with Lampung, spanning a total length of 74 km. The construction of the road has been divided into six sections – the 26 km Padang Tiji-Seulimeum stretch, the 16 km Jantho-Indrapuri stretch, the 13 km Indrapuri-Blang Bintang stretch, the 8 km Blang Bintang-Kutobaro stretch, the 6 km Seulimeum-Jantho stretch and the 5 km Kutobaro-Simpang Baitus stretch. Meanwhile, the government also plans to undertake the construction of the 135 km Sigli-Lhokseumawe toll road, the 135 km Lhokseumawe-Langsa section toll road and the 110 km Langsa-Binjai toll road. As of December 1, 2018, the first section of the Ciawi-Sukabumi Toll Road has been inaugurated. The 15.3 km section runs from Ciawi to Cigombong.

Expressways: The Yangon Urban Expressway Project in Myanmar entails construction of an inner elevated ring road, outer at-grade ring road and radial spokes. The north radial section of the expressway is proposed to be four-laned and will span 17 km. The project cost is estimated to be $252 million. The east radial section will span 9.5 km and entail an investment of $403 million. Lastly, the west radial section has a proposed length of 9 km and is expected to cost $368 million. All these three radial road projects are expected to be completed within 70 months from the commencement of construction.

The feasibility study undertaken by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on the construction of the Phnom Penh-Bavet Expressway has been wrapped up as of December 2018. The estimated cost of the expressway is nearly $3.8 billion. The scope of works for the project includes the construction of a 160 km stretch of road linking Phnom Penh to Bavet in Svay Rieng province, which will be connected to an expressway from the border gate at Moc Bai, on the Vietnamese side. In addition, the construction of the Phnom Penh-Preah Sihanouk Expressway has been awarded to a Chinese state-owned firm, Chinese Communication Construction Company Limited. This expressway is 190 km long and is expected to entail a cost of around $2 billion.

Monorail: The construction works of the first two single monorail mass rapid transit lines in Thailand have started as of August 2018. The Pink Line will extend from Khae Rai to Min Buri while the Yellow Line will stretch from Lat Phrao to Samrong. The Pink Line spans a distance of 34.5 km and has 30 stations while the Yellow Line spans 30.4 km and has 23 stations. The lines are expected to be operational by around late 2021 or early 2022.

Elevated railroad: The Ministry of Construction is planning to implement an elevated road project in Yangon city. The feasibility study is in progress for the same. Diesel electric and rail bus engine trains will be used. Japan is expected to deploy these diesel electric trains.

Bridges: The Myanmar government has announced its plans to construct a new bridge to ease congestion at the border and facilitate border trade links in Shan state. The bridge will be constructed on the Gotelwin section of the Mandalay-Muse Union highway, which is the main route for border trade between China and Myanmar.

Future outlook

The ambitions for Southeast Asian countries are quite high as far as road and rail development is concerned. For instance, the Indonesian government has targeted the completion of 17 toll road projects by end 2019. Further, Southeast Asian countries have been trying to mar all the hurdles coming in the way of delivering infrastructure projects. For instance, the 830 km Mindanao railway project was finally revived with the National Economic Development Authority board approving the first phase of the project on June 28, 2017 after a delay of almost 25 years and several feasibility studies.

All in all, the future outlook for the road and railway sectors in Southeast Asia looks promising but adequate provision in terms of time and cost should be made as many issues and challenges still remain.