The Asian Transport Observatory (ATO) has released a new report forecasting the infrastructure investment needs of the transport sector in Asia and the Pacific until the year 2035. Titled "Asia and the Pacific’s Transport Infrastructure and Investment Outlook 2035", this report analyses data from the Asia-Pacific economies to answer the question: how much will the Asia-Pacific region need to invest in transport infrastructure over the next decade? Building on ATO’s Asian Transport Outlook 2030 — published in 2022 — which analysed various aspects of transport in Asia from a regional perspective, this latest report incorporates developments towards constructing investment needs up to 2035. It estimates that the annual average transport infrastructure investment needs would triple in 2020-2035 as compared to the level of investments in the period 2000-2020.
The report's estimate covers spending on new construction, improving existing networks, maintenance, and additional increments for climate-proofing of transport infrastructure. It incorporates policy targets and current projects in the planning and execution stages and determines construction and maintenance costs using cost multipliers based on the ATO cost database. It reviews the latest data on infrastructure spending across asset classes, updates projections of infrastructure demand, and pinpoints the gaps. This report serves as the first instalment in a series of outlook reports that will explore key aspects of transport in the region—such as transport demand, vehicle fleets, road safety, climate change, air pollution, and resilience.
"This is a key document in determining the investment, upgrade and maintenance needs of this fast-moving sector in the Asia–Pacific region," said Jamie Leather, Director, Transport Sector Group, Asian Development Bank (ADB). "With the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport less than a year ahead of us, establishing the needs of the sector will be crucial in rallying the resources and solutions required to further sustainable transport on a global level. It also gives us a better understanding of the potential transport sector trajectories and what it will take us to ensure sustainable pathways moving forward. ATO's incisive and methodical insights into the subject, broken down into sub-sectors and sub-regions, could not have come at a better time."
Andrés Pizarro, Manager - Transport, Public Sector Clients- Region 1, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), said, "This is an incredibly important and timely document for us to determine which aspects of the transport sector require the most investments and, therefore, the most focus, as we close in on both the start of the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport and the culmination of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030. The detailed insights the report presents, including its in-depth focus on road, rail, urban transport, maritime ports, airports, and more, are extremely useful for us to plan and prepare our support to the transport sector to meet the burgeoning demands of both people and goods on the move."
The transport sector is an essential component in achieving the UN's SDGs, whose 2030 deadline is fast approaching. With innovations in technology changing the shape of mobility, it is important to support the decision-making process in the transport sector with the latest data to remain efficient, effective and supportive of the SDGs. The ATO's deep dive into the sector’s infrastructure investment requirements will enable both the public and the private sector to make the right decisions and plan for the future and for the UN Decade of Sustainable Transport.
The ATO is an open-access knowledge database covering 51 economies across the Asia–Pacific and more than 600 national-level indicators to provide invaluable data that is crucial in supporting the region’s transport planning and decision-making. It is supported by ADB and AIIB, and serves to strengthen the knowledgebase of transport in the region. It serves as monitoring apparatus for developments and changes in the transport sector across the region, especially in tracking the implementation of landmark international agreements such as the Paris Agreement, the UN SDG 2030 and the Aichi Declaration, among others.