The Asian infrastructure story over the past 10 years is essentially two stories in one. On the one hand, the region’s road networks, for example, have been growing at about a 5 percent annual rate — much faster than in other developing nations or regions, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Also, per capita electricity capacity has increased by 7.2 percent annually from 2000 to 2012. Anecdotally, cross-country telecommunications, water supply and sanitation are also showing rapid increases in coverage, quantity and quality.

And yet the other side to that story, also according to the ADB, shows that the region’s critical infrastructure is still far from adequate in some areas, such as Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia. In fact, the ADB estimates that more than 400 million people across the region lack electricity, 300 million do not have regular access to safe drinking water, and about 1.5 billion lack access to basic sanitation. And while the conditions vary cons