ASEAN aims to make S.E. Asia transport, technology hub+

SINGAPORE, Oct. 16 Kyodo -
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has completed a master plan for
greater connectivity among its 10 members that includes upgrading the region's
infrastructure so as to make ASEAN the transportation, information
communications technology and tourism hub for East Asia.
The ''Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity,'' a draft of which was obtained by
Kyodo News, is expected to be endorsed by ASEAN leaders at their summit in
Hanoi on Oct, 28.
It proposes strategies to boost the road, rail, shipping, air and other links
among ASEAN members in a bid to reduce economic disparities in Southeast Asia
and help ASEAN achieve its goal of an economic community by 2015.
The master plan calls for efforts to improve the region's connectivity in three
areas: physical connectivity such as transport and ICT infrastructure,
institutional connectivity such as trade and investment liberalization, and
people-to-people connectivity such as tourism and education.
For infrastructural connectivity, the plan calls for early completion of the
ASEAN Highway Network and implementation of a project to connect Singapore by
rail with Kunming in southwestern China via Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, while it
also urges early establishment of a trans-ASEAN gas pipeline.
It says that development of ICT infrastructure and services in the region also
needs to be accelerated and that efficient and integrated networks should be
established for inland waterways and maritime transport.
ASEAN will set up a coordinating committee to implement the master plan by
mobilizing the financial resources and technical assistance as well as forging
public-private partnership.
The plan is an important step for ASEAN to sharpen its economic edge through
integration, without which it would be difficult to compete with China, which
has become a huge magnet for investors.
''The deepening and widening of connectivity in the region would reinforce
ASEAN's position as the hub of the East Asia region and preserve its
centrality,'' says a related document.
For improving the highway network, the master plan calls for ASEAN to make sure
its highways are good quality asphalt roads by upgrading all the dirt roads
found in remote areas that tend to become muddy and inefficient in rainy
weather.
It says a feasibility study should be conducted to find ways to improve the
links between the archipelagic countries such as the Philippines and Indonesia.
Regarding the so-called Singapore Kunming Rail Link project, slated for
completion in 2015, the draft says ASEAN needs to ''mobilize financial
resources and technical assistance from external partners either on a bilateral
basis or with the coordination of the Asian Development Bank'' to achieve that
target.
The rail project was first proposed by ASEAN leaders in 1995 but is a daunting
task as there are several missing gaps running for more than 1,000 kilometers
in portion of the link within the Indochina region, with some sections only
slated for completion by 2020.
The master plan proposes that ASEAN countries chart a regional policy framework
by 2012 for the development of inland waterways. It also calls for improving 47
ports in the region and establishing more reliable shipping routes.
In terms of energy infrastructure, it urges the formation of a ASEAN joint
venture gas pipeline company for the trans-ASEAN gas pipeline project and the
adoption of common technical standards for the design of the infrastructure.
The 10-member regional grouping will also establish a ASEAN Broadband Corridor,
or Internet highway, by 2014.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
==Kyodo