The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) transport investments in the Pacific are expected to reach over $1.6 billion, including $115 million in cofinancing, for 22 projects during the 2022–2024 period, according to the latest issue of the Pacific Transport Update launched today.

The Pacific Transport Update 2022 provides an overview of ADB’s technical assistance and lending activities to the transport sector in the Pacific region. It showcases the results of ADB’s operations in land, maritime, and air transport, and highlights ADB’s focus on policy planning and capacity building in the sector.

“ADB’s activities in the Pacific transport sector is building resilient, sustainable infrastructure to connect people with the resources and opportunities they need to thrive. At the same time, we work to ensure domestic stakeholders have the capacity and resources to manage transport services,” said Director of ADB Pacific Department’s Transport Division Dong-Kyu Lee. “Transport projects account for more than 52% of the total value of the department’s portfolio.”

The report says the region’s developing countries are among the most vulnerable countries in the world due to natural hazards and the effects of climate change. There is a pronounced need to increase connectivity across the region and to ensure that infrastructure is built and managed to endure. ADB is also helping to increase resilience to natural hazards by integrating disaster risk management and climate-resilient design considerations into most of its projects and technical assistance in the region.

The report focuses on the achievements of ongoing ADB-assisted projects in Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Papua New Guinea has the largest active transport portfolio, with cumulative lending reaching $2.1 billion in 2021. ADB transport sector activities are focused on leveraging transport infrastructure to connect people with markets and opportunities.

Solomon Islands is also a major beneficiary with $238.1 million in active portfolio to implement road and maritime projects. Fiji is improving its transport infrastructure with ADB’s assistance, and Samoa is increasing the capacity of its existing international port in Apia and rehabilitating and upgrading existing roads. In Kiribati and Tuvalu, ADB is assisting in improving accessibility to outer islands with maritime facilities and harbors. The international port of Tonga in Nuku’alofa is being upgraded and a new international port in Nauru is being constructed. In Vanuatu, ADB is supporting interisland shipping.