Infrastructure for Asian Connectivity Edited by Biswa Nath Bhattacharyay, Masahiro Kawai and Rajat M. Nag (review)

Asia’s economic growth holds much promise to lift its people out of poverty. However, this growth can only be sustained by the presence of quality infrastructure that can keep up with the pressures of economic and population growth. Acknowledging that trade forms a substantial part of the Asian growth story, such infrastructure must also enable connectivity between different parts of the region in a timely, dependable, and unified manner. Failing to achieve this, Asia’s trade competitiveness may be compromised, and its growth stunted and less inclusive. This book lays out detailed arguments explaining the benefits of regional infrastructure networks, discusses the policies and institutions required to build these networks, and presents various ways of financing them.

Infrastructure for Asian Connectivity (IAC) is the more advanced companion to Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia (ISA), also a joint publication of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Both volumes are outputs of ADB and ADBI’s flagship study on Infrastructure and Regional Cooperation. Here “regional infrastructure” is defined as projects that span, impact, or require the coordination of multiple, neighbouring countries. The earlier ISA book, published in 2009, is presented in a more popular format and is reported to be “the most downloaded book on the ADBI website”. The IAC book, reviewed here, is more technical in nature. Presenting selections from thirty background papers originally prepared for the study, it offers valuable insights for economists, policy-makers, and those deeply interested in infrastructure and regional development.

While general readers may find it easier to read the ISA book, intermediate and advanced readers will find value in the IAC book. First, it contains rich data and analysis on regional infrastructure projects throughout Asia, which provides a better understanding of development activities currently taking place or being planned in the region. Second, it presents impact studies of regional transport infrastructure, generally and in select Asian regions, and gives advocates of infrastructure development the numbers to support their cause. Third, it discusses the “how-to” of regional infrastructure development, including principles of conducting evaluations, building cross-border infrastructure management institutions, and financing these regional infrastructure projects.

The first part of the book (Demand and Benefits of National and Regional Infrastructure Networks) is the infrastructure advocate’s toolbox, showcasing the vast size of Asia’s infrastructure investment needs (Chapter 2) and the estimated benefits of building regional infrastructure networks (Chapters 3 to 5). Asia’s overall infrastructure needs for 2020 were estimated using two methods: an econometric model based on country variables and an identification of actual infrastructure projects — 1,202 of them — that have formally entered the planning stage in various countries. The first “top-down” method predicts a total requirement of US$8.2 trillion, while the latter “bottom-up” method identifies US$320 billion of financial resources. Either way, the needs are tremendous.

However, the benefits are just as great. Using computable general equilibrium models and data from the Global Trade Analysis Project, the authors were able to identify in detail the positive impacts of regional infrastructure for the countries in general (Chapter 3), for poor communities living under US$1 and US$2 per day in the Greater Mekong Subregion (Chapter 4), and for specific household categories such as landless peasants, smallholder farmers, and highly educated urbanites in South Asia (Chapter 5).

The second part of the book (Policies and Institutions for Effective Infrastructure) is written in a more descriptive and qualitative style. Chapter 6 presents in policy-maker–friendly language the principles, criteria, and key steps of conducting ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of regional infrastructure projects. Two chapters discuss different things but come to the same conclusion: Chapter 8 reviews environmental impacts of energy and transport sectors; Chapter 9 explains how the European Union (EU) has managed its regional infrastructure, drawing on more than fifty years of efforts in building cross-border institutions. In the end, both...