ADB study: infrastructure to remain as bottleneck for development in Asia

BALI, Indonesia, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The backward
infrastructure that suffered enormous pressure from Asia's rapid economic growth
in recent years will continue to be a bottleneck for the region, said a book
released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ADB Institution on Monday at
the 42nd ADB annual meeting in Bali.

The book, titled Infrastructure for a Seamless Asia,
presents the major issues and challenges in developing regional infrastructure
in Asia through fostering regional cooperation, as well as provides a practical
framework for pan-Asian infrastructure cooperation.

It noted that Asia's trade competitiveness depends to
a large extent on efficient, fast, reliable and seamless infrastructure
connections, but many parts of Asia are isolated economically as well as
geographically.

"Asia has enormous untapped economic potential," said
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda, adding "Connecting its diverse economies and
peoples through seamless infrastructure will help in achieving an integrated,
poverty-free, prosperous, and peaceful Asia and the world."

According to the book, Asia needs an infrastructure
investment of 8 trillion U.S. dollars in overall national infrastructure and
about 290 billion U.S. dollars in regional infrastructure projects from 2010 to
2020.