Asian infrastructure bill continues to grow, says ADB president

Tokyo

BACK in 2009, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) suggested in a report that Asia would need to spend US$8 trillion on infrastructure in the decade up to 2020.

With still four years to go to 2020, the ADB president is now saying that the figure needs an upward revision - and this will come soon.

Mr Takehiko Nakao told The Business Times in a recent interview in Washington, where the infrastructure issue loomed largely in debate at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, that Asia needs a lot of money for power, roads, railways and communications.

Referring to the number of development banks that have sprung up in recent years, he dismissed conc…