Fiscal spending for road construction to link Kalabakan, Sabah, Malaysia with North Kalimantan, Indonesia is an idea that have been proposed for over 20 years. The announcement for the relocation of Indonesia’s capital city from Jakarta to East Kalimantan give a strong justification for the construction of the Serudong-Simanggaris road. The fact that population size is big in Kalimantan and strong purchasing power is estimated in North and East Kaliamantan provide a strong argument for the need to have a road link. Having said that, the effect of road construction on output growth is not clear. The purpose of this study is to estimate the impact of road construction and the business activities across two sectors being assumed on output Sabah’s output growth. Based on the input-output analysis conducted using the output multiplier, the one-off road construction would lead to 1.8% growth in Sabah’s overall output.

To achieve the electrification of private vehicles, it is urgent to develop public charging infrastructure. However, choosing the most beneficial type of public charging infrastructure for the development of a country or region remains challenging. The municipal decision’s implementation requires considering various perspectives. An important aspect of energy development involves effectively integrating and evaluating public charging infrastructure. While car charging facilities have been thoroughly studied, motorcycle charging facilities have been neglected despite motorcycles being a vital mode of transportation in many countries. The study created a hybrid decision-making model to evaluate electric motorcycle charging infrastructure. Firstly, a framework for evaluating electric motorcycle charging infrastructure was effectively constructed through a literature survey and expert experience. Secondly, decision-makers’ opinions were gathered and integrated using Bayesian BWM to reach a group consensus. Thirdly, the performance of the alternative solutions was evaluated by exploring the gaps between them and the aspiration level through modified VIKOR. An empirical analysis was conducted using examples of regions/countries with very high rates of motorcycle ownership worldwide. Finally, comparative and sensitivity analyses were conducted to demonstrate the practicality of the proposed model. The study’s findings will aid in addressing municipal issues and achieving low-carbon development objectives in the area.

Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) have increasingly engaged in outward foreign direct investment in recent years, and particularly into the infrastructure sector of developing economies. This has been prompted by the infrastructure-led economic integration plan of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. However, such collaboration faces many challenges. Infrastructure projects are often undertaken in industries, countries, and regions posing particular and difficult challenges, and with divergent, often conflicting interests, with the ensuing conclusion that the MNE is simply exploiting the project and not delivering value to the host country. Overall, not only does the infrastructure project have to be well-functioning with expected returns (or savings) realized, but these projects face close scrutiny from local communities, labor, opposition parties, neighboring countries, and various international bodies and nonprofits, requiring delicate handling of the principals involved. The unfolding of these issues and their management by the multinational are examined through an in-depth longitudinal case study. The data are drawn from major participants and stakeholders around a leading Chinese MNE and the mega project of the construction of a major hydropower plant in Pakistan.

The use of infrastructure as a catalyst for Indonesia’s economic growth faces significant challenges. One example is the construction projects, which have not reached the intended goal and have led to an increase in investment cost compared to the original plan. Additionally, the interaction between the government and companies involved in toll-road construction projects under the public-private partnerships (PPP) mechanism has yet to produce good quality project governance and expected project performance. This study aimed to find empirical data on the determination of project intellectual capital and project ownership structure through good project governance on toll-road project performance in Indonesia. This study adopted a quantitative approach that involved data collected through a survey conducted among toll-road projects from 2015 to 2019. The data was analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The results showed that project intellectual capital and project ownership structure significantly affected good project governance. Good project governance Practices significantly affected project performance. Project intellectual capital and project ownership structure influenced project performance through the mediation of good project governance. Conversely, two hypotheses were not supported by the data, i.e., the effect of project intellectual capital and project ownership structure on project performance. The findings of this research contributed to the literature regarding the implementation of collaborative governance in PPPs toll road development projects in Indonesia by providing a framework and assessment tools, which could be valuable for researchers and policymakers in analyzing and evaluating the governance and performance of toll road construction PPP projects.

Preserving roads involves regularly evaluating government policy through advanced assessments using vehicles with specialized capabilities and high-resolution scanning technology. However, the cost is often not affordable due to a limited budget. Road surface surveys are highly expected to use low-cost tools and methods capable of being carried out comprehensively. This research aims to create a road damage detection application system by identifying and qualifying precisely the type of damage that occurs using a single CNN to detect objects in real time. Especially for the type of pothole, further analysis is to measure the volume or dimensions of the hole with a LiDAR smartphone. The study area is 38 province’s representative area in Indonesia. This research resulted in the iRodd (intelligent-road damage detection) for detection and classification per type of road damage in real-time object detection. Especially for the type of pothole damage, further analysis is carried out to obtain a damage volume calculation model and 3D visualization. The resulting iRodd model contributes in terms of completion (analyzing the parameters needed to be related to the road damage detection process), accuracy (precision), reliability (the level of reliability has high precision and is still within the limits of cost-effective), correct prediction (four-fifths of all positive objects that should be identified), efficient (object detection models strike a good balance between being able to recognize objects with high precision and being able to capture most objects that would otherwise be detected-high sensitivity), meanwhile, in the calculation of pothole volume, where the precision level is established according to the volume error value, comparing the derived data to the reference data with an average error of 5.35% with an RMSE value of 6.47 mm. The advanced iRodd model with LiDAR smartphone devices can present visualization and precision in efficiently calculating the volume of asphalt damage (potholes).

As Saudi Arabia embarks upon a transformative economic journey under the umbrella of its Vision 2030 and National Transformation Plan, the Saudi government plans to implement various initiatives to engage the private sector in meeting new national development goals, including the provision of 1600 schools through the public-private partnership (PPP) route. This article provides an international outlook and review of the use of PPPs to deliver school infrastructure and analyzes Saudi Arabia’s potential to implement this promising program. Effective use of the PPP model can guarantee the timely provision of schools and other infrastructure projects that could fulfill the vision of Saudi Arabia’s political leadership, potentially serving as a catalyst and blueprint for other Gulf states. The case study argues that, while Saudi Arabia’s schools’ program enjoys significant political support, its government needs simultaneously to pursue the parallel objective of developing the necessary institutional, legal, regulatory, and supervisory frameworks essential for successful PPP projects globally. The article concludes with recommendations to mitigate existing challenges and foster the involvement of the private sector in education sector development.