The Knowledge to Decide

The Indian government’s recent tweaking of the licensing policy for Electric Vehicles (EV) promises to address the infrastructure obstacle holding back the sector. The setting up of EV charging stations by the government would no longer require a license from the Ministry, paving the way for the faster construction of these stations. Earlier this year, Ola – the cab firm – initiated ‘Mission: Electric’ with plans to put 10,000 electric auto-rickshaws and e-rickshaws on Indian roads by 2019, a figure which is planned to mushroom to a million by 2021. Will government policies put India’s EV market on the global map? Read here more:  https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/india-pushes-electric-vehicles/

Equivalent to the combined population of the Netherlands, Germany and France, Bangladesh is home to 160 million people. Although it is ranked as one of the world’s poorest of the 10 most populous countries, its economy grew by 7.1 per cent in 2016, a 30 year record. The country is starting to attract the attention of global companies. Can Bangladesh make poverty history? The story so far Bangladesh’s recent economic upturn is attributed to two major factors: its robust NGO sector and its thriving garment manufacturing industry. Bangladesh exported over USD26 billion in clothing, second only to China. Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971 after a devastating war. Just prior to the war, in 1970, a massive cyclone had hit the nation, killing thousands. Today Bangladesh’s GDP per person is USD1,538 in comparison to Pakistan’s at about USD1,470 in June 2016. Some analysts assess that Bangladesh has the potential to emerge as the 23rd largest economy in

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to work on an open Indo-Pacific region strategy with cooperation in infrastructure development and maritime security. The Japanese government will pump in more investment into high-quality railway and road network projects. Can a strategic alliance between Japan and India help in maintaining a stable regional balance of power, given the current stance of the US? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/india-and-japans-strategic-alliance/

Traffic congestion in densely population Asian cities is nothing new. To address this growing menace, emerging Asian economies continue to invest heavily in new transport infrastructure in cities like Jakarta, Manila and Ho Chi Minh City. For instance, Manila suffered annual economic losses of USD18 million due to road congestion. According to a recent study, Southeast Asian emerging states under the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – excluding Laos, Brunei and Singapore – need an investment of USD147 billion each year in infrastructure through 2020 to maintain growth momentum. Will new infrastructure and traffic management technology address traffic congestion in emerging Asian economies? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/new-transport-systems-in-asian-cities-to-curb-traffic-congestion/

Flagged off in 2012, the London cross rail project aims to achieve better connectivity within the UK. Deemed to be Europe’s largest infrastructure overhaul, the project aims to increase railway capacity by 10%. The project is expected to come on stream in December 2018. It will have 10 new stops, create 55,000 full time jobs, increase employment of female engineers as well as reach out to young students through various Crossrail programs for engineers. Will the UK’s rail overhaul help to buffer the impact of Brexit? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/london-spearheads-europes-largest-infrastructure-project/

On the morning of 24 April, 2015 a powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on the Richter scale rocked Nepal. With 8 million people affected and more than 4,000 feared dead, the estimated cost of reconstruction is more than USD5 billion. The scale of devastation is bound to have an economic impact on one of the poorest countries in the world, affecting industries as diverse as tourism, energy, agriculture and infrastructure. What will it take to get Nepal back on track? The level of devastation The damage wrought by the earthquake was felt across the breadth ot this small country. It damaged buildings in the capital city of Kathmandu. As a result of the many aftershocks, buildings and temples collapsed, with roads splitting wide open due to cracks. Heritage sites such as Kathmandu’s Dharahara Tower (known as Bhimsen tower) – a 19th century structure with nine floors – collapsed, with at least 50 people stuck in the rubble. Dozens of historical buildings, monuments and temples