"China's electricity generation capacity will increase to 860 million kW at the end of this year, the second largest after the United States. The nation's power grids coverage has become the world's largest with fast expansion of the ultra-high voltage network.

New energy such as nuclear and wind power has played an increasingly important role. The nation has 11 nuclear reactors, and approved the construction of another 14. Some 24 are already under construction. Currently, more than 70 percent of the nation's electricity is coal-fired. The government has pledged to increase the capacity of new energy to 15 percent of the total by 2020."

"Vietnam's strategy for competing in the global arena has been to carve out niche markets where it could deliver quality products like handicrafts or specialized clothing that China could not. But all of Vietnam's main export industries are heavily dependent on sales to the United States. In 2009, the United States was the biggest importer of Vietnamese goods, absorbing about a fifth of the country's exports.

Many factory owners say that labor costs make up about 20 to 30 percent of the cost of manufacturing, so cutting workers, overtime or wages does not help much in response to lower demand. In addition, the shipping and transportation networks are much more robust in China, which can put Vietnam at a disadvantage. In the first 10 months of 2009, Vietnamese exports declined 13.8 percent compared with the period in 2008."

"History tells us that the spread of new technology often makes a permanent difference to a nation's fortunes. The cellphone has played a similar role in India's take-off in the last decade. None of the changes that mobile-phone connectivity brought about seems earth-shaking in isolation. However, if we aggregate across the vast network of users across the nation, it does add up to a significant jump in what economists refer to as 'factor productivity'.

There are thousands of interesting anecdotes of how cellphone penetration helped productivity. This one is a particular favorite. Truck operators could increase their fleet size simply because it was now easy to keep a tab on a larger number of truckers. Scale meant a fall in average overheads and fed into lower freight rates."

"The Indonesian government is to make good on its commitment to smooth the progress of infrastructure development by buying up land on behalf of developers, allowing them to circumvent the torturous process of acquiring land. Investors and government officials who buy land for infrastructure projects regularly complain about the protracted process under current regulations, blaming speculation and unclear and contradictory regulations for slowing it down.

Before the end of the year, officials will revise a presidential decree issued in 2005 that regulates partnerships between the private sector and the government in infrastructure-development projects. Current regulations require private businesses to acquire the land for infrastructure projects. The government merely provides a guarantee to pay back the money if the project fails."

"Kolkata is one place where domestic water supply isn't billed. Most of Kolkata's water connections have no apparatus for volumetric measurement. Officials say 94 percent of the city is supplied piped water, but there are no meters installed at residences, So, the municipal body is unable to properly monitor supply across its command area.

While some areas of the city get up to 20 hours of continuous water supply every day, there are also neighborhoods that receive only five hours daily. There is also an issue with groundwater, as much of it is hard water, and there is also an arsenic contamination problem. In many slums in the city, residents use piped water for cooking and use groundwater for washing, bathing, etc."

"Despite the 90 percent coverage of latrines, their poor condition -- and poorer usage in rural Bhutan -- was one of the main reasons why Bhutan is not seeing a decrease in sanitation and water-related diseases, according to a public health engineering survey. At 85 deaths per 1,000 live births, Bhutan's under-five child mortality is the highest in South Asia, with diarrhea and dysentery still ranking among the top three killers and as the most commonly reported diseases in the country.

In a survey of 453 households in 37 villages, only three percent used toilet paper to clean themselves, with the most common cleansing materials being leaves and sticks. The most frequent problems mentioned related to toilet use was, 'too far away' and 'dangerous at night', a clear indication that people would appreciate a toilet much more if it can be closer to home."

"With 70 percent of Myanmar's population dependent on agriculture, credit reform could help the Asian nation reach its full productivity potential and enhance development, Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz said. Surveys have shown that the cost of credit is very high in Myanmar, with many farmers and casual laborers having to borrow money at interest rates of 10 percent or more per month.

Farmers said that while irrigation had increased their productivity, they can not get the credit to buy fertilizer and high quality seeds. To reduce poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals, a focus on agriculture is essential."

"It is well known that the rural economy, which is the mainstay of the bulk of the population in most developing countries, is marked by a lack of industrial opportunities. That is the key feature underlying stagnation in the village economy. Unlike the developed world, where rural living is in no way inferior to the quality of life enjoyed by the urbanite, the typical rural area in the developing world is backward and suffers from multiple inadequacies.

The 'bottom billion' have been talked about but a 'bottom-up' development strategy is yet to see the light of the day, and it is relentless pursuit of a consumerism-fed top-down, trickle-down approach that rules the roost as the dominant paradigm. That will require directing resources to the sector in which the poor work (such as agriculture and informal activities), factors of production which they possess (unskilled labor) and output which they consume (such as food)."

"India and Bhutan have signed a dozen agreements, including four on hydropower generation. The other agreements were in civil aviation, health and IT fields. Bhutan currently has an installed capacity of 1500 MW of hydropower, with the domestic consumption being only 400 MW. The entire surplus power is exported to India.

Bhutan has had a favorable balance of trade with India since 2006 due to its export of power. It is also the reason that Bhutan has one of the highest per capita incomes in South Asia at over $2,000."

"Pakistan has attached priority to the construction of Bhasha-Diamir Dam to be completed at a cost of over $11 billion. The Diamir-Bhasha Dam is expected to usher in new era of socio-economic development of Gilgit-Baltistan and Kohistan areas through massive investment while creating thousands of new employment opportunities for the local population thus helping in a big way to reduce poverty and backwardness of the areas.

The Diamer-Bhasha Dam, with a live storage capacity of 6.4 MAF, would not only produce electricity to the capacity of 4500 MW but would also go a long way to realize the agricultural potential and also enhancing the life of Terbela reservoir by reducing siltation."

Please share this e-newsline with others interested in the development of Asia-Pacific.

For questions, comments, complaints please visit our online contact form

To change your email address or to unsubscribe from ADBI e-newsline please visit:
http://www.adbi.org/e-newsline/subscribe.php

Sign-up for ADBI's free e-notification service to ensure you receive an e-mail when we post new publications and opportunities.

The stories and links selected and the views expressed in e-Newsline are those of the authors and editors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the ADB Institute. The Institute does not endorse them and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequences of their use. Original name usage is retained in quoted articles, although it may not necessarily follow ADB naming conventions.