SINGAPORE – A new online portal to link owners of regional infrastructure projects with developers and financiers has been set up by Infrastructure Asia, which is jointly managed by Enterprise Singapore and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
The Infrastructure Asia Project Portal was launched by Second Minister for Finance and National Development, Ms Indranee Rajah, at the Asia Infrastructure Forum on Tuesday (Aug 2).
In her keynote speech at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Ms Indranee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, said an estimated US$2 trillion (S$2.8 trillion) is needed to build sustainable infrastructure in South-east Asia by 2030.
“A major barrier to leveraging such exciting growth potential is the lack of visibility of project opportunities, the lack of awareness of the best-fit solutions available, and the lack of collaboration in bringing together complementary experts.
“This portal will improve the visibility of the region’s infrastructure project pipeline, raise our regional counterparts’ awareness of, and build their confidence in, technological and financial solutions from more than 600 of Infrastructure Asia’s Singapore and Singapore-based partners; and serve as a virtual marketplace to connect like-minded partners to develop these infrastructure projects,” said Ms Indranee.
Infrastructure Asia executive director Lavan Thiru said the cost involved in finding the right solution providers and partners for an infrastructure project is high.
“So there was a need for a platform that is neutral, a platform that has some level of independence and, more importantly, a platform that can do some curation,” he said.
“Infrastructure Asia sits in the middle and we want to make sure that it’s the right solution provider, because sometimes you can’t tell a lot from a brief description. So we then get connected, and we try to bring the two parties together and see if there’s a meeting of minds.”
Projects listed on the platform have to be at least marginally bankable, and involve sectors in which Singapore companies have expertise, Mr Thiru added.
Eleven projects from countries like Indonesia, the Philippines and Cambodia, worth a total of $4 billion, have already been listed on the platform. They range from a railway station redevelopment project in New Delhi to a regional water supply system project in the Great Bandung Area in Indonesia.
“Many of these projects need a little bit more structuring work, and need the private sector to come in to give their views on how to improve (them). And so this will then make them a lot more attractive to private capital,” said Mr Thiru.
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MCI (P) 031/10/2021, MCI (P) 032/10/2021. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2021 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.