“We’re excited by what is happening in ASEAN, which is moving toward a new free-trade environment by 2016,” says Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and CEO of Philippines-based Ayala Corp. Manila Water, its water-services subsidiary, will focus on Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines in its future expansion plans.

Philippines-based Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) also is expanding its presence across the region. For example, MPTC has partnered with Indonesian construction and engineering firm Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada and French contract operator Bouyguesplans to invest in a planned 21-kilometer Becakayu toll-road project in Indonesia.

MPTC currently is constructing the Dau Giay-Phan Thiet Expressway, the first public–private partnership toll-road project in Vietnam. The 98.7-km, six-lane expressway includes seven interchanges, 15 bridges, 10 flyovers, 19 overpasses and 15 underpasses. Its Cebu toll-road project will enable a third bridge to connect Cebu and Mactan Island.

In Indonesia, delays in land clearances have resulted in slower infrastructure spending. Government rules have been revised to speed up the process, Vice Finance Minister Anny Ratnawati confirms. The passing of a new land acquisition law last year will help to expedite construction activity, though it will only apply to future investments, officials say.

Still, Indonesia’s capital expenditures of $16.2 billion are slated to increase by 15%, to $20.3 billion, next year, with infrastructure development as the main priority. Indonesia has said it plans to build through public-private partnerships about 16 projects, including powerplants, airports, 560 km of roads and 380 km of rail tracks. However, Indonesia's past record is mixed; for example, only two P3 projects have moved to the construction phase since 2006.

An emerging economy, Laos is expanding its rail infrastructure. The country's current rail system consists of a 3.5-km link over the Mekong River between capital Vientiane and Thailand’s Nongkhai.

Rich Banco Berhad, New Zealand's financial institute, is extending a $5-billion loan to Malaysian builder Giant Consolidated Ltd. for the construction of a 220-km high-speed railway connecting Savannakhet province with Lao Bao Border Gate on the Laos-Vietnam border. An environmental impact assessment for the project is pending.

Chinese companies also have prominent infrastructure projects in Laos, including the China Export-Import Bank-funded $7.2-billion high-speed train running north to south and linking the Chinese border with Vientiane. Plans for dams, roads and airports also are on the boards.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s shift to democracy after five decades of military rule is attracting interest in the country's oil, gas and other natural resources.

“Foreign investment is increasing more in theory than in actual fact," says opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, "because many of the big businesses are waiting to see what our foreign investment laws are going to be like and studying the infrastructure in Burma, which is very poor."