As environmental degradation and climate change loom large over our future, more and more countries are looking for ways to meet their energy, transportation, and other needs with minimal damage to our planet. In this month’s issue of the magazine, we bring you stories on green bus initiatives in Southeast Asia, “Green Transit” and efforts to turn waste to energy, “Waste to Wealth”. Singapore, the Philippines, and Vietnam have already introduced some form of “green” buses, and Malaysia and Indonesia are set to follow suit. The available greener technologies include those that use compressed natural gas, biogas, or hybrid sources of energy.
Apart from shifting to more environment-friendly transport alternatives, some countries in the region are meeting their growing need for energy by converting waste to energy through incineration, anaerobic digestion, gasification, or biomass steam production. The challenges are not just technological; many countries in the region also need to strengthen their waste collection.
In a region with so many islands and rivers, bridges assume great importance in facilitating the movement of people and goods. One type of bridge that is increasingly favoured in Southeast Asian countries is the cable-stayed bridge, which is faster and cheaper to build than other kinds of long-span bridges. Our story, “Attracting Attention”, highlights that since 2000, such bridges have come up in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. More are coming up in Brunei, Cambodia, and Vietnam.
Our telecom story, “Gaining Prominence” looks at what companies faced with slowing revenue growth are doing to survive in a challenging market. One option some operators have found is to sell their telecom towers, leasing what they need and focusing their efforts on their core business of providing good communication services to their customers.
In a story on transnational infrastructure projects, “Cross-border Financing”, we consider both the opportunities and challenges of such initiatives. While these transnational projects help to integrate the region, the usual challenges associated with infrastructure development get magnified as different countries have different laws dealing with land acquisition, government permissions, environmental standards, etc.
Other stories this month bring you news of railway projects in Thailand, solar power in the Philippines, water delivery privatisation in Indonesia, and the status of the gas pipeline infrastructure in Southeast Asia.