In recent years, Southeast Asian countries have laid increased emphasis on the construction of expressways and bridges. While expressways are designed to cater to high speed traffic, bridges have helped in connecting lands that are otherwise separated by seas and rivers, and eased the movement of people and goods between areas that were once difficult or time-consuming to reach. The successful implementation of major projects like the Ninoy Aquino International Airport expressway in the Philippines, the First and Second Penang Bridges in Malaysia and the Suramadu Bridge in Indonesia have provided further impetus to the implementation of such projects across the region.
Southeast Asia Infrastructure looks at some of the major upcoming expressway and bridge projects in the region…
Philippines
Taking cognisance of the need to ramp up infrastructure in the country, the Philippines government announced an aggressive infrastructure programme, the Build-Build-Build (BBB) programme. Several bridge and expressway projects are envisaged as part of this programme. The four-lane, 44.2 km Cavite-Laguna Expressway is an important project being implemented under the programme. Being undertaken on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, the project is expected to cost PhP 35.43 billion. As of February 2019, the project has achieved 28.25 per cent physical progress for the Laguna segment. Another major ongoing expressway project is the 8.25 km Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway. Expected to be completed by 2022, the expressway will provide an alternative link between Mactan Island, where the Mactan-Cebu International Airport is located, and Cebu, the regional growth centre of Visayas.
In November 2018, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Philippines’ longest bridge, the Panguil Bay Bridge, was held. Spanning 3.77 km, the two-lane bridge will connect Tangub city, Misamis Occidental and Tubod, Lanao del Norte, in northern Mindanao. Expected to be completed in 2021, it is the first of the 16 bridges to be built to connect Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao under the BBB programme. The project cost is estimated at PhP 7.35 billion. The project is being funded by the Korean Economic Development Cooperative Agreement through a financing loan to the national government.
Recently, the Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways signed a PhP 5.27 billion contract for two China-aided bridge projects. With the signing of the contract, the works related to survey, design and construction of the Binondo-Intramuros and Estrella-Pantallon schemes will be initiated.
Indonesia
The Indonesian government has drawn up plans to construct 10 new expressways on the 1,187 km trans-Java stretch. These are the Pejagan-Pemalang, Pemalang-Batang, Batang-Semarang, Semarang-Solo, Solo-Ngawi, Ngawi-Kertosono, Mojokerto-Jombang-Kertosono, Mojokerto-Surabaya, Gempol-Pasuruan, and Pasuruan-Probolinggo expressways. Nearly 40 per cent of these expressways are already operational, with the remaining planned to be completed by the end of 2019.
In terms of length, the longest expressway targeted for completion by 2019 is the 141 km Bakauheni-Terbanggi Besar expressway, which forms a part of the trans-Sumatra road. Another important expressway project targeted for completion by end-2019 is the 99.35 km Balikpapan-Samarinda Expressway. In addition, the 4.4 km South Sulawesi Expressway, being undertaken by the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation, is expected to be completed in 2020. The project is being implemented at an estimated cost of $20 million.
The Chinese government has expressed interest in the construction of a Rp 12 trillion bridge, which would be Indonesia’s longest, in north Kalimantan. The 5.6 km bridge will connect Bulungan regency on Kalimantan’s main island to Tarakan.
Malaysia
The Malaysian government is looking to revive the Jambatan Bridge project in Malaysia. The plan to construct the 1.4 km bridge was first proposed in 2003 but it was stalled. However, new proposals have been put forward for the project, which will replace the existing Johor causeway. The new link is expected to provide improved transport connection between Malaysia and Singapore.
The government is also contemplating the implementation of Phase I of the East Coast Expressway project. The 147 km expressway forms a part of the 11th Malaysia Plan and will connect Kampung Gemuruh near Kuala Terengganu to Pengkalan Kubur in Kelantan. Recently, the government approved the Palekbang-Kota Baru bridge project that will connect Tumpat to Kota Baru.
Myanmar
The Myanmar government is gearing up for the construction of the four-lane, 47.5 km Yangon Expressway. The Ministry of Construction has received 12 prequalification applications for Phase I of the project. The planned expressway will connect downtown Yangon, Yangon port, the Yangon International Airport, the Mingaladon industrial zone and the Yangon-Mandalay highway. It is the country’s first greenfield road project being implemented on a public-private partnership basis. The estimated cost of the project is $350 million-$400 million.
The Myanmar government has also announced plans to construct a new bridge to 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. Besides, the first instalment of a loan amounting to $36 million for the construction of Number 3 Thanlyin Bridge was released by the Japan International Cooperation Agency recently. With an estimated budget of around $289 million, the 1.93 km bridge is expected to be completed in 2023.
Vietnam
The Vietnamese government plans to commence construction work for several big-ticket expressway and bridge projects during 2019. The first project is the 98 km Cam Lo-La Son Expressway in the central provinces of Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue. With a total approved investment of about VND 7.7 trillion, the technical design consultancy has been completed and construction work is expected to commence in the second quarter of the year.
The second project is the 15 km Cao Bo-Mai Son Expressway in the northern provinces of Nam Dinh and Ninh Binh. The four-lane expressway will be constructed at an estimated cost of about VND 5.29 trillion. The technical design for the Cao Bo-Mai Son Expressway has been completed and site clearance is under way. The construction work for the project is expected to begin in July 2019.
The third major project is the 6.6 km My Thuan 2 Bridge, which will cross the Tien river to connect the southern provinces of Tien Giang and Vinh Long. A total investment of VND 5 trillion has been approved for the project, and construction work is scheduled to commence by end 2019. All three projects form part of the 11 sections of the North-South Expressway estimated to cost over VND 118 trillion in total, of which VND 55 trillion will be funded by the state. Together, the sections will span 654 km from Nam Dinh to Vinh Long province.
Other noteworthy projects
Driven by the objective to further enhance Singapore’s infrastructure, the government plans to construct the 21.5 km North-South Expressway. In January 2019, civil construction contracts amounting to SGD 3.14 billion were awarded for the project. The expressway will become the first integrated transport corridor in Singapore, designed with continuous bus lanes for express bus services between Sembawang, Woodlands, Yishun, Ang Mo Kio and the city area, as well as designated cycling routes that are connected to the Park Connector Networks. It is expected to be completed by 2023. Further, its planned connections to the Seletar Expressway, Pan Island Expressway and East Coast Parkway are also expected to enhance the overall efficiency of Singapore’s expressway network.
In April 2018, the China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group (YCIH) and the Lao Planning and Investment Ministry signed a concession agreement for the first expressway in Laos. The Laos-China Joint Expressway Development, a joint venture between the Lao government and YCIH, will invest in and construct and operate the expressway project on a BOT basis. The project is part of the Vientiane-Boten Expressway, the first fully closed expressway in Laos and a major project under the Belt and Road Initiative. The 460 km expressway starts from Vientiane and ends in Boten.
In Cambodia, construction work for the Sihanoukville expressway is expected to begin soon. Spanning 190 km, the four-lane expressway will be constructed on a BOT basis by Chinese Communication Construction Company Limited. It is expected to cost $2 billion and is scheduled to be completed within four years from the commencement of construction.
Further, the Thailand government has approved the construction of the sixth Thai-Lao friendship bridge connecting north-eastern Thailand with southern Laos. The estimated cost of construction is THB 4.3 billion. Currently, an environmental impact assessment study for the bridge is in progress.
Touted to be Southeast Asia’s longest bridge, the 30 km Temburong Bridge in Brunei is currently under construction. As of February 2019, it had achieved physical progress of 75 per cent and is expected to meet its completion deadline of November 2019.
The way forward
The attractive pipeline of expressway and bridge projects on offer will provide a boost to connectivity in the region. However, efficient planning, structuring and preparation are crucial to the successful implementation of such projects. Feasibility studies are required to establish their economic and technical viability; the project owners need to identify the most appropriate commercial structure that can be achieved within the governing regulatory framework; risks need to be identified and allocated through contractual documentation in such a way as to make the projects bankable; and a tender process that is fair, transparent and understood by the market needs to be adhered to. Further, the governments should ensure more equitable risk allocation in order to attract private investment for such projects.
