TRANSPORT, WATER - ASIA | SECTORS
Railway tunnel
China Japan
Hong Kong South Korea Macao
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 Above: North-East Asia – Tunnel Construction Project Pipeline, Value By Country and Type ($m) SOURCE: GLOBALDATA
region has the largest pipeline of tunnel-related construction projects globally, according to GlobalData’s Q3-2025 report. In prior quarters of 2025 the region’s pipeline values were US$351 billion (Q2) and US$328 billion (Q1), respectively. The increases were or the order of US$25 billion per quarter.
China China holds the largest share of the Q3-2025 regional total, at US$285 billion, or about 72%. In those prior quarters its majority share was valued as follows: in Q2 almost US$241 billion, or 68%, of the regional total; and, in Q1 almost US$220 billion, or 67%. A year before that quarter, in Q1-2024 the value of
the pipeline of tunnel projects in China was US$174 billion, or 60% of the regional total of US$291 billion. In broad terms, the region’s pipeline of tunnel-
related projects has increased in value by a third since the end of 2023, though the value of China’s pipeline has jumped by more than 60% over the same period. By far the largest portion of China’s pipeline is
projects in the Execution stage. This Construction stage, in Q3-2025, accounted for US$184 billion or almost two-thirds of the total, followed far behind by the share in Planning (US$57 billion) and Pre- Execution (US$38 billion). There is little in Pre- Planning, relatively. Back in Q1-2024, the value and share held by
Execution was US$104 billion and 60%, respectively. Almost the entire pipeline is dominated by transport
tunnel-related projects with the balance slightly favouring Railway & Metro Tunnels over Road Tunnels. Only a single digit percentage share, relatively, if Water & Sewerage Tunnels.
Japan Japan holds the second largest share of the regional value pipeline of tunnel-related projects in North- East Asia. Even so, and at US$101 billion for the national total, that is down to almost one-third of China’s level of activity. The level was fairly steady over the quarters of 2025, and those were slightly down on that of Q1-2024 billion, at US$111 billion. Here, too, the pipeline is heavily led by projects in
the Execution stage. In Q3-2025 they accounted for US$65 billion or about two-thirds share of the total,
followed by half as much (US$33 billion) in Planning. There was little in Pre-Execution and a negligible amount in Pre-Planning. Back in Q1-2024, the main stages were also
Execution and Planning, in a similar balance, though slightly higher in value in each case as the national total was higher. value and share held by Execution was US$104 billion and 60%, respectively. Again, Transport tunnels are dominant - but in Japan
share of Rail & Metro Tunnels almost fully accounts for the value of the pipeline. This dominance has been steadily so for some years.
Hong Kong, South Korea, Macao The regional total pipeline also includes tunnel- related infrastructure projects in Hong Kong, South Korea, Macao with, in the most recent quarter analysed, Q3-2025, had values of US$4.7 billion, US$3.8 billion and almost US$200 million. In Hong Kong the stages of the pipeline are split
about 3:1 as Execution: Pre-Planning. South Korea, though, has more activity in Pre-
Execution and Execution, and slightly less in Planning. For both, transport tunnels are the focus of their project pipelines.
PROJECTS PIPELINE: SOUTH ASIA The region of South-East Asia in the GlobalData analysis for Q3-2025 includes, in descending order of value of tunnel-related project pipelines, primarily, India and Pakistan, with some activity in Nepal (where there are growing numbers of TBM tunnelling successes in the Himalayas), and Sri Lanka. For Q3-2025, GlobalData gave the total pipeline
value for the region to by almost US$86 billion, with US$72 billion (nearly 85%) of activity in India and US$9 billion (11%) in Pakistan, respectively. The other two nations in the region held low single digit percentages of the total pipeline value. The pipeline activities of all nations, though, are
mainly in the Planning and Execution stages. In fact, for India and Pakistan it is the Planning stage that is largest, and substantially so, compared to the project value under Construction in each country, according to the analysis. There are many more tunnel projects that are to be in construction, therefore, later this decade.
January 2026 | 35
Road tunnel
Water & sewage tunnel
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