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Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda urged Association of Southeast Asian Nations governments to move faster from plans to financed projects, particularly in building cross-border power, transport, digital, and financial links
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He said delays leaves the region exposed to the next global shock
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Kanda said infrastructure and connectivity needs across ASEAN remain substantial at around $210 billion every year
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ADB earlier announced it would mobilize up to $30 billion by 2030 for ASEAN priorities, including public and private sector financing, project preparation, and support for cross-border coordination
Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Masato Kanda urged Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) governments to move faster from plans to financed projects, saying that delays in building cross-border power, transport, digital, and financial links are leaving Southeast Asia exposed to the next global shock.
“ASEAN cannot wait for the next shock to expose its weakest links,” Kanda said, addressing ambassadors and policymakers at the ASEAN High-Level Conference on Connectivity in Manila on August 26.
“Every connection delayed is resilience deferred. From power grids to digital networks, the connections our economies depend on are no longer a convenience. They are the foundation of economic security,” he added.
Kanda noted that ASEAN is one of the most integrated, trade-dependent regions in the world.
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“Your prosperity depends on goods, energy, capital, data, and people moving efficiently across borders. We know that cooperation enables cross-border infrastructure, efficient trade, and deeper economic linkages. But no single country can achieve this alone.”
The ADB chief said this is “why connectivity matters more than ever.”
“The new ASEAN Connectivity Strategic Plan provides the framework. Now, our shared task is clear: we must move from strategy to greater delivery. Every year that a connection is delayed is a year resilience is deferred,” Kanda said, noting that infrastructure and connectivity needs across ASEAN remain substantial at around $210 billion every year.
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At the same time, he said the region faces a financing challenge on three fronts–constrained fiscal space in several member states, limited pipeline of bankable regional projects, and financing arrangements remain fragmented across institutions and borders.
At the ASEAN Summit in May, Kanda announced that as the region’s main bank, ADB would mobilize up to $30 billion by 2030 for ASEAN priorities, including public and private sector financing, project preparation, and support for cross-border coordination. The ASEAN Power Grid is central to that commitment, with ADB planning to commit up to $10 billion through to 2035 to help build the region’s cross-border grid.
Project studies are being initiated under ADB’s Regional Connectivity Fund for Energy in Southeast Asia, the region’s first trust fund dedicated to preparing ASEAN Power Grid investments. Launched in April with about $26 million from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, and the United Kingdom, the fund is designed to help move the region’s grid pipeline from feasibility studies to bankable, financed projects.
ADB is also working with the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Centre for Energy, and the World Bank through the ASEAN Power Grid Financing Initiative to coordinate public and private financing for grid projects.
