Barun Roy: While we were busy with elections?

ASIA FILE

While Indians were busy campaigning and voting to elect their 14th Lok Sabha, and were later preoccupied with the intricacies of forming and balancing a new government, the rest of Asia wasn't standing still to watch the world's largest democracy in action.

Here's a brief account of what was happening elsewhere during the period we were caught up with elections and its aftermath.

Bullet trains started running from Seoul to Mokpo to the southwest, making South Korea the fifth country in the world to introduce a high-speed "" up to 300 km an hour "" railway.

By 2008, bullet trains would also be running between Seoul and Busan to the southeast "" and by 2010 between Daegu and Busan via Kyongjiu "" bringing almost the entire country within the reach of high-speed transportation and large-scale new investments.

China's fastest supercomputer, the Star of Nankai, with 800 CPUs, 400 nodes and running at 3.231 trillion times/ second during tests, was born. General Motors announced plans to invest $ 3 billion in China in the next three years.

China's biggest joint venture in the steel industry, with Germany's Thyssen Krupp, went into operation in Dalien. Shanghai disclosed plans to expand Pudong International Airport as part of a $ 36 to $ 48 billion urban revamp in connection with its proposed 2010 World Expo.

And construction began on a major new expansion of Beijing's Capital International Airport to add a massive, 3,50,000 square metre new terminal "" its third.

Terminal 3, also known as the Olympic Terminal, will be ready in time for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. "It will be a 21st century airport that will set global standards in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency, and sustainability," say the foreign partners of the joint venture that's building it "" airport planners Naco, architects Foster & Partners, and engineers Arup.

Located between the existing eastern runway and the future third runway, the soaring roofs of the $ 2 billion terminal "will reflect the poetry of flight as well as evoke traditional Chinese colours and symbols."

At the same time, the authorities announced their decision to build a second international airport for Beijing, probably at a site in the neighbouring Hebei province. Work is to start in 2010 and will be completed by 2015.

By then, Capital International itself would be handling 60 million passengers per annum, against 27 million now; but obviously even that won't be enough for Beijing's future needs.

Across the strait in Taiwan, the first batch of Japanese-built bullet trains arrived for the trial run of a high-speed railway system that will ferry passengers between Taipei in the north and Kaohsiung in the south, a distance of 345 km, in less than 90 minutes.

The same journey now takes five hours. The $ 15.3 billion speed-up will throw Taiwan's less-developed interior regions open to new investment growth.

In Bangkok, trial runs began on the first leg of a subway system that will eventually stretch into a 111-km network to unravel the city's notorious traffic gridlock. The $ 2.5 billion inaugural segment links the city's northern suburbs with its bustling Chinatown with a 20-km line that cuts through 18 stations.

At the same time, the government approved a Baht 30 billion budget to build an elevated express train system from central Bangkok to the massive new international airport, which is 30 km to the east of the city.

The new airport called Suvannabhumi is due to open in September next year and will be big enough to handle 100 million passengers yearly, replacing Don Muang, the existing one, which handles 30 million.

Vietnam decided to build an open economic zone over an 18,000 hectare area at Chu Lai in the central province of Quang Nam, almost at the halfway point on National Highway 1.

It is to be a financial, banking, trade, telecommunications and service centre where new business and investment policies will be introduced in line with international practices.

A second software park opened in Ho Chi Minh City to boost IT research and staff training, while work began on a $ 25-million IT building at the first park as a joint venture with Australia.

In the southern Dong Nai province, construction began on what will be the country's largest steel ingot plant "" its production capacity will be up to 3 million tonnes per year.

In lifestyle- and environment-conscious Malaysia, a joint venture involving China's Shimao Group announced an ambitious plan to build a massive "canal city" in Selangor as a self-contained residential, commercial, and tourism community "" a kind of Malaysian Venice.

Sprawled over 5,400 acres of land and water near Putrajaya, Malaysia's new administrative capital, the city will grow around an elaborate network of canals connecting Klang and Kuala Langat rivers as part of a flood mitigation scheme and offering a unique experience of waterfront living.

That's Asia for you. It keeps marching.