Investing in Asian infrastructure

Rohit Khare (khare@mci.net)
Tue, 1 Jul 1997 17:12:51 -0400


In a fulsome W3J article:

==================No longer. Hong Kong's investments in China now total
more than $100 billion, making it by far the mainland's largest source of
outside capital.
Here in Wuhan, a gritty industrial city in China's heartland, an elegant,
twin-tower suspension bridge spans the Yangtze River. When construction of
the bridge ground to a halt a few years ago, New World Development stepped
in with a $101 million investment. Today, the bridge illustrates how China
can be developed at a profit: 60,000 vehicles cross it every day; half the
85-cent toll goes to New World.
==================

Work out the numbers: 60k times, round up to 50 cents = $30k times 350 days
= $10.5 mn. Boy, you can make a LOT of money if you con the Commies into
building half the bridge for you.

Remember, there are a lot of pitfalls and Potemkin profits to be had --
Even though China is 1,000,000 times larger in area, its economy is only
seven times larger than HK. There are a lot of 'frictional' opportunities.
I'm happier betting on fundamentals, like India's educated industrial
development: tortoise and hare all over again.

I just wish the Indian team were competent enough to root for. Such a bunch
of pathetic politicians... they make dictatorship look better than
democracy, that's how bad it is.

---
Rohit Khare /// MCI Internet Architecture (BOS) /// khare@mci.net
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