Asia Sustainable Infrastructure Advisory (ASIA) Panel

Ms Indranee Rajah is the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. She is also Second Minister for Finance, and Second Minister for National Development. Ms Rajah has been the Leader of the House since 2020. She has been a Member of Parliament for the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2001. She practiced as a lawyer and Senior Counsel before joining the Government.

Under her Finance portfolio, Ms Rajah co-chaired the Working Group on Legal and Accounting Services, a sub-committee of the 2016 Committee on the Future Economy, the recommendations of which are aimed at transforming the legal and accounting industries in Singapore and catalysing the internationalisation of such professional services. She oversees infrastructure Asia, the Singapore government platform that connects infrastructure demand and supply in the region. Additionally, she facilitates Singapore’s partnerships with key Multilateral Development Banks, such as the World Bank Group, the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to catalyse private and blended finance solutions for maximal developmental impact in the region.

Under her National Development portfolio, Ms Rajah oversees the Centre for Liveable Cities and chairs the World Cities’ Summit, bringing together government leaders and industry experts to address liveable and sustainable city challenges. She guides the review of Singapore’s long-term land-use planning and development of policies for urban development. She also guides the development of strategies for HDB’s Green Towns Programme, and NParks' greenery efforts as part of Singapore's transformation into a City in Nature. Ms Rajah is also currently looking into sustainability and sustainable infrastructure as new growth drivers for professional services, together with the Professional Services Programme Office (PSPO) and Infrastructure Asia.

Dr. Andrew Benedek founded Anaergia in 2007 to address the climate crisis by working to eliminate methane emissions from waste. He began his career as a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, where he taught and conducted research to find ways of improving water quality. In 1980, Dr. Benedek founded ZENON with the purpose of developing cost-effective membrane technologies for recycling wastewater. Under his leadership, ZENON invented, developed, and commercialized many of the key membrane technologies used for water and wastewater treatment and became a global leader in this field. After Zenon was acquired by GE in 2006, Dr. Benedek worked briefly at the Scripps Institute of Technology in San Diego, California, where he became interested in finding solutions to climate change. To further his newfound mission, he founded Anaergia, which has since become a world leader in recovering energy, fertilizer, and water from waste. Anaergia is now publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Dr. Benedek received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Québec in 1966 and a doctorate from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington in 1970 with a focus on wastewater treatment. He is the recipient of many international awards including the inaugural Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize, the world’s largest prize for advances in the water field, as well as three honorary doctorates.

Mark sits on the Investment Committees of the Development and Construction Equity funds of Climate Investor One, a renewable energy fund, and of Climate Investor Two, a water fund. These are blended finance funds and are backed by various Development Finance Institutions, such as the FMO and the European Commission, as well as institutional investors. The mission of the funds is to support renewable and water projects in Asia, Africa and Latin America, where funding, particular commercial debt, might otherwise be difficult to obtain. The ultimate objectives of the funds are to be impactful; a catalyst for renewable energy and water projects in these geographic regions; and establish ESG standards for the implementation of these projects.

Mark is based in Singapore and moved to Asia in the ‘90s as an investment banker with Rothschild and has lived between Singapore, Jakarta and Hong Kong and was involved in mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings and project finance across the region. He was with Rothschild for 23 years and had a focus on energy and infrastructure, amongst other sectors. He also holds a number of directorships.

Mark is the Co-Chairman of the Energy and Utilities Committee and Co-Chairman of the Sustainability Committee at British Chamber of Commerce, Singapore.

He has a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales and a Diploma from the Securities Institute of Australia.

Marie Lam-Frendo is the Chief Strategy Officer of Meridiam, a European equity investment fund, with 20bn AUM, focusing on sustainable infrastructure in developed and developing economies. She has 23 years of experience spanning the development, financing, and public policy for infrastructure projects, as well as almost 10 years of experience in general management.

From 2019 to 2023, Marie was the CEO of the Global Infrastructure Hub, the leading G20 agency for infrastructure, advising the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on public policies and program development to boost infrastructure investment in emerging economies. From 2015 to 2018, she was the MD and Head of Asia-Pacific for Atkins Acuity, the advisory services business of the SNCL group, helping clients with infrastructure project strategy and finance. Prior to that, Marie headed the Infrastructure Initiatives department of the World Economic Forum (WEF) (2011-2014), where she led their thought leadership activities, publishing reports on best practices in the infrastructure sector and advocating them at the B20 and COP.

She started her career in 2001 and held numerous commercial and technical positions at various European utility providers (Alpiq, Essent, RWE, etc.), where her expertise spanned arch dam design to business development and equity investment activities in LNG and renewables (solar, biomass, hydro) in the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia.

She holds an MSc in Civil Engineering from EPF, an MSc in Marketing and Strategy from ESCP-EAP (Paris), and an MSc in Management and Leadership from WEF (in partnership with LBS and INSEAD). She is also a WEF Global Leadership Fellow.

Joan Larrea is an expert in catalyzing investment in places that need it most and brings with her over 25 years of experience in emerging markets investing.

Since 2016, Joan’s leadership has driven Convergence to become a global independent authority for blended finance. As CEO, Joan ensures Convergence continues to elevate the field of blended finance through its products and services and accelerate the flow of private capital into SDG projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Prior to joining Convergence, from 2014 to 2016, she served as Managing Director for Business Development and Partnerships at the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC, now the Development Finance Corporation), leading OPIC’s efforts to partner with philanthropic and private investors to increase capital flows to OPIC's target markets. Before OPIC, from 2005 to 2014, Joan was a managing director on the emerging markets team at Global Environment Fund, a privately held asset manager with USD 1 billion in assets under management, dedicated to the energy, environmental, and natural resource sectors. She began her career in 1996 as an investment officer at the International Finance Corporation, where she concluded pioneering transactions in diverse infrastructure and manufacturing sectors across Asia.

Joan holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business and an MA and BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Satish Shankar leads the firm’s strategy, team and operations across Bain’s APAC offices. He is an expert in the firm's Airlines & Transportation, Energy & Natural Resources, Agribusiness, Mergers & Acquisitions and Consumer Products practices, with a strong focus on M&A, strategy and digital transformation.

Previously, he served as office head of Bain Southeast Asia. Under his leadership, the firm experienced double-digit regional growth and transformed new offices in Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand into some of our most successful growth pillars.

Since joining Bain in 1997, Satish has worked across a wide range of engagements, including portfolio, business unit, turnaround and market entry strategies, operational excellence and M&A. He also holds deep experience in due diligence, post-merger integration and emerging markets strategy.

Deeply committed to sustainability, Satish has worked with industry leaders and financial investors in addressing this pressing challenge. Satish's robust client portfolio includes international and multinational corporate clients, as well as entrepreneurs and family businesses. He is also passionate about building the next generation of leaders both at Bain and beyond.

He received an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a B.Tech in chemical engineering (First Class with Distinction) from Anna University, Madras.

Dr. Sadek Wahba is Chairman and Managing Partner of I Squared Capital, an independent global infrastructure investment manager based in Miami, Florida. He was previously at Morgan Stanley where he was the CEO of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure, a global platform for infrastructure investments.

A former economist at The World Bank, Sadek is an advocate for transformative approaches to infrastructure investment and a frequent commentator about the need for more investment in infrastructure to promote sustainable economic growth. He was part of the expert committee on the World Economic Forum's first report on global infrastructure investments and was named Global Infrastructure Personality of the Year twice, as well as Global Infrastructure Personality of the Decade, by Private Equity International (PEI). He appears regularly on national networks including Bloomberg and CNBC. In September 2022, President Biden appointed Sadek to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which advises the White House on reducing the physical and cyber risks and improving the security and resilience of critical infrastructure in the U.S.

He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University, an M.Sc. in economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a B.A. in economics from the American University in Cairo. He is a published author on economic research and one of his publications was selected by MIT as one of their 50 most influential papers in the last 50 years.

Sadek is a Senior Fellow at the Development Research Institute of New York University, a Foundation Fellow of St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford and a trustee of the American University in Cairo. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, he is also a member of the national cabinet of the Wilson Center, and chair of the steering committee of the Wahba Institute for Strategic Competition at the Wilson Center.

He resides in Miami, Florida where he is a member of the board of directors of the Baptist Health Miami Cancer Institute and a trustee of the Everglades Foundation.

Mr. Wong Heang Fine is currently Chairman of Asia Infrastructure Solutions Singapore, a Global Infrastructure Solutions Inc (GISI) company. He is also Director of its Asia Advisory Board.

Heang Fine comes with 40 years of leadership across various built environment sectors in different roles as a developer, contractor, and consultant. He was most recently the founding Group CEO of Surbana Jurong where he spearheaded its growth into one of the largest urban, infrastructure and management services consulting firms in Asia with a global talent pool of over 16,500 employees based in more than 120 offices in over 40 countries worldwide. SJ’s fees income in 2022 was over S$2 billion. Heang Fine retired from Surbana Jurong on 30 September 2022.

Prior to Surbana Jurong, Heang Fine held key leadership positions across diverse sectors. He was with CapitaLand for eight years, where he was the CEO of CapitaLand Residential Singapore Limited and CapitaLand GCC Holdings, and also the Country CEO in charge of developing CapitaLand’s business in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. He was CEO of Capitala, a joint venture company between CapitaLand Singapore and Mubadala Development Company in United Arab Emirates.

From 2001 to 2006, Heang Fine was President and CEO of SembCorp Engineers and Constructors Pte Ltd (now Sembawang Engineers and Constructors) and was instrumental in advancing the company’s engineering and construction business in Southeast Asia. He joined Cathay Organisation in 1998. As Deputy President, he helped guide the company’s public listing on SESDAQ. In 1999, he was appointed President and CEO of Cathay Organisation Holdings. Between 1996 and 1998, Heang Fine was Director (Infrastructure), L&M Group Investments Ltd. During his tenure, he restructured the company by spearheading diversification into the infrastructure and property sectors. Between 1991 and 1996, he was at Singapore Technologies Industrial Corporation. There, he pioneered the infrastructure development of the industrial estate and a 24,000-hectare international resort belt on Bintan Island, Indonesia. He was instrumental in developing and managing the Bintan Lagoon Resort. Prior to this, Mr Wong was the General Manager of Metrobilt Pte Ltd from 1984-1991.

Hydrogen is a new energy pathway that not only complements the deep penetration of variable renewables by providing unlimited storage potential, but also presents itself as a zero-emissions energy source. Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) indicated that ASEAN countries have the prospects to become a prosumer of zero-emission hydrogen energy, while others to become net exporters of it.

Singapore is accelerating our technoeconomic viability by developing innovative ways of producing and storing hydrogen. The adoption of technology allows us to address challenges such as policy, regulation and ‘first-mover disadvantage’ for early projects. Through the National Hydrogen Strategy, Singapore aims to develop hydrogen as a key potential decarbonisation pathway to meet our net zero emissions targets.

Waste generation is a key driving factor for biogas emissions such as methane in densely-built environments. For every 1.1°C rise in global temperature, almost 0.5°C of it comes from methane 🌡️. It is important for governments to support mitigation and capture projects that are aligned with the Global Methane Pledge which aims to cut 30% of total methane emissions by 2030.

Asia should encourage biogas production at waste treatment facilities such as the TuasNexus to reduce landfills and mitigate methane emissions that would otherwise arise from landfills, and incentivise the installation of methane capture and control facilities at landfills to use methane as a renewable energy source.

According to a study from the International Water Association, the world loses 126 billion cubic metres of water 💧 each year in distribution systems on the way to consumers. In ASEAN alone, the financial cost of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in 2018 was $2 billion.

Together with World Bank Group, InfraAsia assisted the local drinking water supply utilities in Indonesia, where NRW is one of the highest financial costs to the country, to reduce NRW and improve water efficiency. With the right strategies, resources and technologies, utility authorities around the world can work together and begin addressing the urgent issue of NRW in their own capacity today.

Learn about the framework adopted in Indonesia here.

As a small and resource-constrained country, Singapore’s energy sector has adapted and evolved over the years, shifting its reliance from oil to natural gas. Singapore has been working with its neighbours to establish bilateral and cross-border interconnection that will form part of the ASEAN power grid. By 2035, 30% of our power could be imported from the region.

Last year in June, Singapore began importing renewable energy from Laos via the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project. This was the first multilateral cross-border electricity trade involving four ASEAN countries and up to 100 Megawatts of renewable power will be imported – enough to power 144,000 four-room HDB flats for a year. In October, Singapore and Cambodia signed a MOU on energy cooperation which sets up for greater collaboration on cross-border electricity trade. Find out more here.

Together with the International Finance Cooperation (IFC), InfraAsia is working to scale up energy efficiency solutions through Energy Efficiency Aggregation Platforms (EEAPs). This will allow buildings with various energy requirements to be combined.

Currently, the lack of project scale and financing options have created a market gap. EEAPs will bridge this gap by creating a pipeline of building retrofitting projects in the region and facilitating access of funds to deploy energy efficiency solutions.

Alternative funding sources can supplement conventional options to finance Energy Transition Mechanisms (ETMs) and enable countries to meet their #netzero targets. Retiring 50% of the coal capacity in Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam alone can reduce 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide 🌎.
 
Indonesia launched its ETM Country Platform to advance the retiring or repurposing of coal and other fossil fuel power plants to clean energy. Managed by PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (Persero) the platform will mobilise funds such as the Carbon Reduction Fund, Clean Energy Fund and ADB‘s ETM Partnership Trust Fund and mobilise support from international partners to accelerate just and affordable energy transition in Indonesia. 
 
ETM will be key to unlocking new investments in renewable energy and enabling technologies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The initiative could be scaled up and pave the way toward net zero. 

Governments can play a key role in creating an enabling environment for private sector involvement in #sustainableinfrastructure by putting in place various initiatives and incentives 🤝.
 
One such initiative is the Green Energy Auction Program (GEAP) in the Philippines, which aims to catalyse timely investments into additional renewable energy capacities to support the country’s transition. The recent shift to allow full foreign ownership of renewable energy projects further shows the government’s commitment to partner the international private sector to boost the growth of the energy sector.