ADB to assist with Asian infrastructure

ADB to assist with Asian infrastructure

MANILA (AFP): The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday
it would help developing member countries meet massive
infrastructure requirements through novel financing schemes
proven effective in certain Asian countries.

Asian governments are being urged to utilize schemes such as
the build-operate-own (BOO) and build-operate-transfer (BOT)
programs, said John Taylor, director of the bank's
infrastructure, energy and financial sectors department, to
offset a lack of resources.

The ADB said it would assist in "formulating and negotiating
BOT projects."

It has been projected that Asia will need more than one
trillion dollars worth of infrastructure investment in the next
decade, with US$450 billion alone going to energy and transport.
The rest will go to water supply, telecommunications, and waste
disposal.

Infrastructure investments involving BOT programs can be
funded by the ADB up to $50 million, but did not say whether it
would be in the form of equity or loans.

It added that it could "mobilize similar commercial co-
financing" especially for projects in the power, toll roads, mass
transit and water supply services.

The ADB has cited Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia,
Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, Thailand and the whole of
Indochina as developing member countries "with major
infrastructure requirements."

In an article in its bi-monthly publication, the ADB review,
Taylor cited Malaysia and the Philippines as two countries that
had found innovative ways to meet infrastructure and energy
requirements through privatization of existing assets and the
"contracting out" of the operation and maintenance of
infrastructure services.

He noted the Philippines' success in solving a crippling power
crisis after "an aggressive BOT program," which attracted
Japanese, American, Hong Kong and European investors. Those
projects generate more than 6,000 megawatts of power.

BOT programs involving the private sector "allows governments
to reallocate scarce resources from infrastructure" to poverty
alleviation, health and education programs, Taylor said.