South-East Asian countries on Thursday launched a 485-million-dollar fund for infrastructure projects in the region, dpa cited the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as saying. The ASEAN Infrastructure Fund would help finance the development of roads, railways, power and water in the region, which spends an estimated 60 billion dollars a year on such critical infrastructure, the Manila-based bank said. Rajat Nag, managing director of the ADB, said there were already projects in the pipeline worth more than 1 billion dollars that could be financed by the fund. The first project was expected to be approved before the end of the year, he added. ASEAN or the Association of South-East Asian Nations groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. Nag said Myanmar would not be immediately eligible for financing under the fund because of its outstanding arrears with the ADB, an issue that has also prevented the bank from resuming lending to the country. The ADB said the fund, which it would administer, would finance approximately six projects a year that would help cut poverty, increase trade and bolster investment. The initiative, which was formed with equity from ADB and the ASEAN member countries, was expected to grow to approximately 4 billion dollars by 2020, it added.
