Ingenieur April-June 2016 Ingenieur Apr-June 2016 | Page 22

INGENIEUR COVER FEATURE ASIAN HIGHWAY DEVELOPMENT ISSUES By Pang Soo Mooi With the recent global shift of economic focus towards Asia and the introduction of One Belt One Road initiative, there will be greater movement of goods and services which will necessitate more efficient infrastructure networks within the Asian Region. The main transportation modes will still be sea route, rail and highways. Among these common modes of transportation, the Asian Highway network is expected to play a key role in the mobility of goods and personnel taking cognizance of the great production capacity of China, India and the emerging economies around ASEAN countries. The construction of new highways from China into Laos and Cambodia is part of the One Belt One Road programme. T he Asian Highway network is a network of 141,000 km of standardized roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries with linkages to Europe. The Asian Highway project was initiated in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved, however, progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975. Entering the 1980s and 1990s, regional political and economic changes spurred new momentum for the Asian Highway Project. It became one of the three pillars of Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) at its 48th Session 6 20 VOL - JUNE 2016 VOL66 55APRIL JUNE 2013