SECTORS | TRANSPORT, WATER - ASIA
PROJECTS IN ASIA
T&TI takes a look at some recent milestones achievements on tunnel projects in Asia and reviews the headline figures on the project pipeline for key countries in the region, as analysed by a sister division in GlobalData.
PROJECTS PIPELINE - GLOBAL Of late, North-East Asia has finally taken the global lead among regions investing in major infrastructure with significant underground works. All costs are included in the development of the underground infrastructure assets, not only civil engineering and excavations but fit-out and equipment, and also early stage studies, planning and design development. The region - where most of the infrastructure
works-with-tunnels are focused in China and Japan - now has a project pipeline with a value of almost US$400 billion, according to the most recent analysis, covering Q3-2025*, from a sister division of T&TI’s in GlobalData plc. The prior quarter had a projects pipeline value of US$351 billion, and before that Q1 has US$327 billion. The surge is mainly due to investment by China, and within those sums the spend that is accelerating in project stages is Execution - with construction underway. Transport projects with tunnels dominate the overall project pipeline in China. Western Europe and North-East Asia regions were
on par in the GlobalData’s Q1-2025 analysis. But, since then North-East Asia has pulled ahead, markedly, led by China primarily. A year before, the figures for Q1- 2024 showed North-East Asia to be behind Western Europe, then the leader. But the gap had been closing as China pushed ahead with more projects. North- East Asia is now well ahead of Western Europe and
Pre-planning
North-East Asia Western Europe
Australasia North America
Middle East and North Africa South-East Asia Eastern Europe South Asia
Latin America Sub-Saharan Africa 0 100,000 200,000 300,000 Above: Global – Tunnel Construction Project Pipeline, Value by Stage and Region ($m) SOURCE: GLOBALDATA 34 | January 2026 400,000
has project pipeline value never seen elsewhere. It should be noted that, in global terms, the values of the project pipelines of North-West Asia and Western Europe are each, separately, far in excess of other regions for infrastructure investments involving major tunnel works. Australasia ranks in third place and North America
fourth, followed tightly by Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South-East Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The third place position is recent for Australasia (Australia, New Zealand) since GlobalData’s Q1-2025 analysis, having been ranked fifth - narrowly - behind MENA and North America in the same quarter one year before. Overall, more tunnel project activities in China
and Australasia have pushed them up the table while Japan and Western Europe solidly hold their workload levels. Asia has tunnelling activity spread throughout the
region - including in South-East Asia (ranked sixth and led notably by Singapore and Indonesia) and South Asia (eight place; led by India, by a large margin). Below, we look further at the data in how North-East
Asia has become the leading region in terms of the value of the projects pipeline, and then spotlight a few projects from other countries in different parts of Asia.
PROJECTS PIPELINE: NORTH-EAST ASIA Valued at US$395 billion, the North-East Asia
Planning Pre-execution Execution
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