New infrastructure will catapult the region into the future, but challenges on funding and private investment demand solutions.
Living standards are rising, a new middle class with disposable income is emerging, consumerism is growing and demand for enhanced lifestyles, modern technology and digital capabilities is soaring. Asia’s time has come for dramatic infrastructure investment, planning and long-term commitment that will catapult economic and social development into the 21st century and beyond.
Almost 650 million people live in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region alone, making it one of the largest markets on the globe, while the 45 nations of ‘developing Asia’ have a combined population of 1.7 billion, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The Greater Bay Area and other projects underway or planned in Asia and beyond are, in many cases, components of China’s staggering vision for transnational infrastructure known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). A project of historic proportions, it will eventually interconnect more than 70 countries in Asia, the Middle East and Europe to forge immense new global opportunities for economic and social development, trade and investment. When complete, some observers say it will transform the face of global trade.