During the COVID-19 outbreak in Hubei Province, People’s Republic of China (PRC), infectious medical waste increased by 600% from 40 tons per day to 240 tons per day. This quickly overwhelmed existing medical transport and disposal infrastructure around hospitals.

Other countries are likely to face similar challenges. It is critical that additional waste management systems are put in place to help reduce the further spread of COVID-19 and the emergence of other diseases.

High-quality transport infrastructure development is increasingly important to economic growth and quality of life in Asia and the Pacific.

This conference examined policy papers submitted to ADBI on high-speed rail and other transport infrastructure projects and their spillover effects on the economy, environment, society, and quality of life. The focus was on the introduction of measures to boost project planning, implementation, and operations, as well as replicate the results in new projects.

Heidi Lloce Mendoza, former Undersecretary General for Internal Oversight Services of the United Nations and former Commissioner of the Philippines' Commission on Audit, talked about her new book Audit is Life. The book covers the stories that happened during audit but are not included in an audit report. The book also shares how these stories contain important lessons in life.

Sean Wihera of Clarity Movement discussed their organization’s experiences on applications of new low-cost air quality management technologies that enable advanced performance-based allocations for smaller or highly localized clean air investments. Specifically he discussed how real-time emissions data can be used to better calculate the public health benefits and corresponding economic benefits of city/ neighborhood-scale investments, such as zero emission public transportation.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has put over 25,000 kilometers of dedicated high-speed railway lines into operation since 2008, far more than the rest of the world. The PRC also continues to actively develop transport infrastructure generally under its ambitious Built and Road Initiative.

During the cold winter days most citizens often idle their car engines for long periods to warm the engine and interior. This unnecessarily wastes fuel, costs money, causes excess engine wear and tear, and produces greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and harmful air pollutants.