Southeast Asia

Prosper Construction Holdings, a Hong Kong-based contractor specializing in marine construction services, has an established track record in marine infrastructure developments at home and abroad.

Established in 2001, Prosper Construction owns over 50 marine plants and vessels, including floating jetties, a floating batching plant, a wide range of barges and dredging equipment, and a diversity of land construction equipment such as cranes and earth-moving machines. It also operates its own crew and technicians. All these give the company an edge when bidding for projects and enables it to ensure high project quality and good time control. This strength in resources has also helped Prosper Construction win a variety of marine infrastructure projects in regions or countries along the Belt and Road route. A good number of the projects are located in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy which has the region’s greatest need for new infrastructure.

A high-profile project that Prosper Construction completed recently through its subsidiaries, Hong Kong River Engineering Co. and PT Indonesia River Engineering Co., is a coal-fired power plant in Bali.

Located in Celukan Bawang, North Bali, the plant was built with an investment of US$700 million by China Huadian Group, one of the five largest state-owned power generation enterprises in China, as well as PT Merryline International, and PT General Energy Indonesia. It consists of three units, each carrying a capacity of 142 megawatt units and using efficient, clean coal technology.

Over the past decade, Bali the island has been depending heavily on electricity supplied by Java-based power plants. Demand for electricity on the island has been on the rise, and frequent blackouts have hampered local businesses and investments. The establishment of the plant is expected to help the island enjoy more stable power supply.

Prosper Construction was responsible for constructing the jetty, revetments and seawater intake pipeline. The company’s Hong Kong team was behind the scenes, drafting the tender proposal in the early stage and liaising with consultants.

There were considerable challenges in executing the project, including local shortage of building materials and strong wind and fierce waves in the area where the plant is located. Yet Prosper Construction managed to pull through by ensuring its technicians upheld the safety standards and by sourcing materials from China.

The project is an example of how a resourceful Hong Kong company can readily employ what it has to support Chinese investors to go abroad and help build infrastructure projects that benefit Belt and Road countries.

Hong Kong’s success as an art hub for the Belt and Road includes “perfect” logistics, a proliferation of arts venues and international trade connections, says Kevin Ching of top auction house, Sotheby’s. With Hong Kong being Sotheby’s headquarters for Asia, he says the emergence of Chinese and Southeast Asian art in global markets are joined by work by other talented artists from Belt and Road areas that include the Caucuses and Central Asia. 

Speaker:
Kevin Ching, CEO Asia, Sotheby’s 

Related Links:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
http://www.hktdc.com

HKTDC Belt and Road Portal
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en/

Hong Kong-based Branded, a live media company, increasingly holds festivals and other events in Belt and Road countries and CEO Jasper Donat sees the Initiative as enhancing business, while Hong Kong is an easy and entrepreneurial centre for operations. With many events like music and YouTube festivals in Southeast Asia, Branded has most recently initiated events in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Speaker: Jasper Donat, Co-Founder & CEO, Branded

Related Links:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
http://www.hktdc.com

HKTDC Belt and Road Portal
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en/

The MTR Academy offers intense courses on professional and managerial railway expertise, aiming to improve railways on the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Academy President Morris Cheung. This is essential for management development, says participant Kyaw Kyaw Myo of Myanmar Railways. Azerul Fahmi Mohamed of Malaysia’s Mass Rapid Transit enhances his railway management while Deddy Gamawan of MRT Jakarta looks to MTR’s high-speed expertise. 

Speakers:
Kyaw Kyaw Myo, General Manager (Operating), Myanmar Railways
Azerul Fahmi Mohamed, Manager, Mass Rapid Transit Corporation Sdn Bhd
M Deddy Gamawan, Division Head, PT MRT Jakarta
Morris Cheung, President, MTR Academy
Valentin Reyes, HSEQ Director, Light Rail Manila Corporation

Related Links:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
http://www.hktdc.com

HKTDC Belt and Road Portal
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en/

Based in Hong Kong with a history spanning more than a century, China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Ltd (“China Construction Bank (Asia)” or “CCB (Asia)”) is the flagship subsidiary of China Construction Bank Corporation (“CCB”) with the largest and most comprehensive operation, the most diverse range of products, and a pool of exceptional talents for CCB’s overseas business. With the establishment of its Credit Approval Centre Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong, CCB (Asia) will continue to play a pivotal role working in partnership with other CCB affiliates in Hong Kong in supporting Chinese mainland enterprises’ “going global” as well as participation in the Belt and Road Initiative.

As an international financial hub, Hong Kong is a key strategic link within the Belt and Road Initiative. As most mainland enterprises have chosen to set up their offshore headquarters or fund management platforms in Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region has become the “going global” bridgehead for mainland enterprises, presenting CCB (Asia) with tremendous opportunities. Hong Kong is one of Asia’s most dynamic markets in syndicated loans, bonds, IPOs, asset management and corporate treasury management. It is also the world’s leading offshore renminbi market with a high degree of connectivity to global markets. To mainland enterprises, Hong Kong possesses a distinctive talent edge by virtue of its biliterate and trilingual financial talent pool armed with global insight and vision, its wealth of professionals in accounting, law and tax, as well as its high level of marketisation in human resources and flexible employment mechanism.

CCB (Asia) has in recent years assembled and cultivated a pool of specialists who, by playing key roles in major overseas financing projects in the past, have been instrumental in driving the development of CCB’s overseas financing business. As CCB’s largest comprehensive banking platform outside of the mainland, CCB (Asia) is a key financing centre for major overseas projects involving mainland enterprises. Its independent Structured Finance Team and Syndication Team are in a position to offer companies a suite of financial services products ranging from international syndication and M&A loans to project financing and asset financing. Its services include deal structuring, project evaluation and advisory services, financial modelling, syndicated loan distribution, loan documentation negotiation, arrangement for signing of legal documents and loan drawdown.

The establishment of the Credit Approval Centre Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong signifies an important milestone in CCB’s internationalisation and will help to elevate the quality and efficiency of the loan approval process. It also underscores Hong Kong’s status as a “super-connector” between the mainland and international practices and standards. With the accumulation of valuable experience through execution of live deals, CCB's Hong Kong Training Centre leverages Hong Kong’s advantage in having a concentration of resources, information and talents to provide CCB staff with the mentorship of experienced professionals and the kind of international exposure vital to understanding offshore business. Furthermore, they will benefit from the synergies between enterprises and the financial services community. These advantages make Hong Kong the ideal location for CCB to provide superior support for Chinese enterprises’ “going global”.

Environmental protection is critical to China’s Belt and Road Initiative to parallel economic goals, says Steve Wong of Hong Kong’s BillionGroup Technologies. The firm develops solutions like waste-generated energy, solar power and industrial efficiency projects in Belt and Road locations including the Chinese mainland, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Dubai. He sees Hong Kong as an ideal location for green solutions to replicate in Belt and Road countries. 

Speaker:
Prof. Ir Steve Wong, Managing Director, BillionGroup Technologies Ltd

Related Links:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
http://www.hktdc.com

HKTDC Belt and Road Portal
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en
 

The Netflix epic Marco Polo about the Silk Routes reflected Malaysia’s 500 years of history related to the Belt and Road Initiative, said Rezal Rahman of Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios at FILMART 2017. Iranian producer and actor Alireza Shaja-Nuri and Singapore producer Lim Teck spoke of developing collaborations tapping Hong Kong talent while Norman Abdul Halim of Malaysia’s KRU Studios said Hong Kong’s “connector role” would help access larger movie markets.

Speakers:
Rezal Rahman, CEO, Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios
Alireza Shaja-Nuri, Producer and Actor, Iran
Lim Teck, MD, Clover Films 
Norman Abdul Halim, Executive Producer, KRU Studios

Related Links:
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
http://www.hktdc.com

HKTDC Belt and Road Portal
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en/