Southeast Asia has witnessed unprecedented growth in water consumption. As per estimates, the region consumes over 100 billion cubic metres of fresh water per annum. Although most parts of the region have abundant water resources, usable water has become limited due to excessive contamination and pollution. A continuous increase in the region’s population coupled with depleting freshwater resources and rising environmental concerns is expected to create substantial opportunities for the water treatment technology market. Our focus story, “Promising Outlook”, highlights that various advanced technologies and processes that are likely to be developed to provide efficient and low-cost solutions.
Two stories in this issue, “Making Waves” and “Leading the Race”, are focused on Myanmar, and highlight the progress in the country’s telecom and oil and gas sectors, following changes in the regulatory environment. The entry of foreign entities – Norway-based Telenor and Qatar-based Ooredoo – resulted in significant FDI in Myanmar’s telecom industry. During 2013-14 and 2014-15, FDI in the transport and communications sectors stood at $1,190.23 million and $1,579.3 million respectively, as compared to the negligible amounts in previous years. Similarly, the oil and gas sector received the maximum flow of FDI during 2014-15, constituting around 40 per cent of the total foreign investment in the country in financial year 2015.
Other countries too are making changes in their legal and regulatory environment to attract investments. Our story “Vietnam’s New PPP Decree 2015” discusses the features of the New Public-Private Partnership Decree, which became effective from April 10, 2015. The amended law is regarded as an improvement over the earlier laws governing PPPs. However, a few areas have failed to get policymakers’ attention. These pertain to exemption for land/rent use in build-operate-transfer projects, provisions relating to project contracts, time limit on the negotiation and signing of project contracts, etc.
Philippines is also taking steps to open up the traditional government-dominated airport sector to private players, as outlined in our story “Potential in Bundles”. The Department of Transportation and Communications has announced plans to bid out operation and maintenance contracts worth around PhP 108 billion for five regional airports.
The transport sector in the region is also witnessing significant developments. Construction on the Trans-Sumatra toll road project has started, almost 10 years after parts of the toll road were first tendered, as discussed in our story “Picking up Momentum”. Land acquisition and lack of funding were the major constraints to the project’s progress. The project is now targeted for completion in 2025.