Mind the Infrastructure Gap

Infrastructure is the backbone of any economy and is critical to unlocking a country’s growth. Fuelled by rapid urbanisation and population growth, Asia is facing a growing infrastructure deficit between what is needed and what is available.

Estimates by the Asian Development Bank point to a US$459 billion a year(1) financing gap in the region, similar to the GDP of Thailand.(2) And if these needs are not met, this gap, and the inequality it stokes, will only widen.

Currently in Southeast Asia, 50.9% of the population lives in urbanised areas, with the UN expecting this figure to rise to an average of 66.4% by 2050. Aggravating this movement towards cities is Asia’s population growth. By 2050 Asia’s population is expected to increase by 142 million(3) compared to Europe, where the population is expected to shrink by more than 25 million over the same period.

Because of this, throughout Southeast Asia, there has been a tremendous push towards improving infrastructure. Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s government is planning to spend US$327 billion(4) on a pipeline of 265 projects, and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has earmarked US$180 billion for railways, roads and airports.(5) Yet with the improvements that need to be made, and the complexity of infrastructure development, regional cooperation through the likes of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is key.

“I think ASEAN is definitely making progress in this space, in order to draw together their economies, specifically in infrastructure, and to combine that with the services of infrastructure, such as logistics,” says Jordan Schwartz, World Bank’s director for infrastructure, PPPs and Guarantees.

Through strategies such as the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025, countries have been united in a vision towards building a network, and are working together on priority projects such as the ASEAN Highway Network and the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link.

“There are very different priorities across the different markets,” says Mark Rathbone, PwC’s Asia Pacific Capital Projects & Infrastructure Leader. “If you’re looking at a country like Thailand, their big focus is to boost their own manufacturing capabilities and connectivity between the different economic centres. Meanwhile, in Laos or Cambodia it’s a far more basic infrastructure need, around building roads, railways and power stations, as well as housing and healthcare.”

The ability of ASEAN countries to continue growing at their current rates will depend largely on how much infrastructure they can deliver in the coming years. From power generation, clean water, effective utility networks and improvements in transportation networks – these are all essential to ensuring that Southeast Asia is able to fulfil its potential.

With this in mind, there is a necessity for developed countries in the region to contribute according to their strengths and lay important groundwork.

“The primary goal for developed countries is example setting and certain resource mobilisation,” says World Bank’s Schwartz. “I can see the need for a one-stop-shop, where the technical skills can be brought together with the financing, the legal expertise and the economics. That coordination effort can be really important.”

Singapore can play a unique role as a facilitator to infrastructure development in the region, says Kow Juan Tiang, Deputy Executive Director of Infrastructure Asia.

“Singapore has a strong track record of delivering infrastructure projects on the ground, whether it is our sea ports, airports or our entire utility infrastructure,” says Kow. Singapore also has “an entire ecosystem with different expertise required for a complex sector like infrastructure from engineering and technical aspects, to financing and structuring abilities and a robust legal framework.”

For many of these reasons, the World Bank Group chose Singapore as its first and only Infrastructure and Urban Development Hub,(6) employing around 200 people with teams dedicated to energy, water transport, public private partnerships and urban development to name just a few.

Another example of collaboration between Singapore and its neighbours include the 225-megawatt gas fired power plant in Myanmar’s Myingyan, near Mandalay. Singapore-listed energy company Sembcorp will spend around US$300 million building and operating the power plant for 22 years, after which the facility will be transferred to the Myanmar government.

While many tend to think of infrastructure as the physical assets, the World Bank’s Schwartz is keen to highlight that the first step towards cooperation often lies on the negotiating table.

“For the most part, laying cables and paving roads, even putting tracks down, is only the first step of connectivity through infrastructure,” says Schwartz. “The way in which we address the regulations and the policies such as the rules of trade or open skies, these are probably as important, and in some cases, maybe even more important, than the physical infrastructure. Collective action is required.”

This piece of content is brought to you by Enterprise Singapore andInfrastructure Asia

How to show or hide Microsoft Print to PDF printer in Windows 111/10

Microsoft Print to PDF option can help you save a webpage as PDF via any browser like Edge, Chrome, etc., and it is an in-built tool included in Windows 11/10. However, if you want to show or hide Microsoft Print to PDF printer in Windows 11/10, you can follow this tutorial. There are multiple methods you can follow, and they will let you get the same job done.

To show or hide Microsoft Print to PDF printer, use these tools or methods:

To learn more about these methods, continue reading.

It is possible to use the Command Prompt to remove or hide Microsoft Print to PDF option while saving a webpage to PDF or printing a document in Windows 10. Not only the Microsoft Print to PDF, but also you can remove almost any visible and non-connected print using this Command Prompt method.

To get started, open Command Prompt on your computer. For that, you can search for cmd in the Taskbar search box and click on the individual result. After that, type the following command and press the Enter button:

Once done, you will no longer be able to find Microsoft Print to PDF while printing a document or anything else. If you want to hide another printer, you have to replace Microsoft Print to PDF with the original name of the desired printer.

Like Command Prompt, you can use Windows PowerShell to hide or remove Microsoft Print to PDF option from the list of printers. As usual, you can use the same (with minor customization) command to remove any other printer that you no longer use on your Windows 10 computer.

To get started with the Windows PowerShell method, search for powershell in the Taskbar search box, and click on the respective search result. Then, type the following command and press the Enter button:

Note: If you use the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell method to hide or remove the Microsoft Print to PDF printer, you have to use the Windows Features panel to remove and add the printer when you want to get it back. In other words, you can follow the fifth guide mentioned in the list here.

Read: Print to PDF is missing

Devices and Printers, in Control Panel, is such panel, where you can find all the connected devices, such as your monitor/s, mouse, speakers, fax machine, printers, etc. It is possible to manage those devices from this panel to not have to navigate to different paths for different devices.

Like said, you can add a new device and remove one when needed with the help of Devices and Printers. In other words, it is possible to remove Microsoft Print to PDF printer from Windows 10 using this section in Control Panel.

To get started, search for the control panel in the Taskbar search box and open the Control Panel by clicking the individual result. Make sure that the View by is set to Large icons. If so, click on the Devices and Printers option.

Next, right-click on the Microsoft Print to PDF printer and select the Remove device option.

Then, click on the Yes button in the confirmation window.

That’s all! Once the process is completed, you can’t find the Microsoft Print to PDF printer anymore.

This method is probably the easiest step you can follow as you can complete it within moments. Like all the other methods, you can remove any installed printer from the list of printers with the help of Windows Settings.

For getting started, you need to open Windows Settings on your computer. For that, you can open the Start Menu and click on the settings gear icon. Alternatively, you can press the Win+I keyboard shortcut to open the same.

Next, go to the Devices section and switch to the Printers & scanners tab. Here you can find all the connected and non-connected printers on your right-hand side. You have to select the Microsoft Print to PDF option and click on the Remove device option/button.

Then, click the Yes option in the confirmation popup.

Read: List Printers using the same printer driver, separately.

All the aforementioned methods help you hide the Microsoft Print to PDF printer temporarily. However, if you want to remove the entire package or feature, remove it from the Windows Features panel.

For that, you can search for windows features in the Taskbar search box and click on the Turn Windows features on or off option in the search result.

Remove the tick from the Microsoft Print to PDF checkbox and click the OK button.

It will take some time to complete the process. Once done, you have to restart your computer to finish the step.

After restarting, you won’t find the Microsoft Print to PDF printer in Windows 11/10.

That’s all! Hope these methods helped you.

Read: Ways to Enable or Disable Optional Windows Features.

How to Sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge

Here is a guide that shows you how to sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge. Signatures are basically used to get or provide consent or approval on documents like contracts, legal documents, applications, forms, and more. Just like how you add inked signatures on a hard-paper document, you can also add an electronic signature to your PDF document in the Edge browser.

Microsoft Edge is a great PDF viewer for Windows 11/10 with some good PDF reading and annotation tools. Additionally, you can easily draw and add a handwritten signature to a PDF document right from the Edge browser. In this post, we will discuss two methods to electronically sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge. Let us check out these methods now!

These are the main methods to sign a PDF document in the Edge browser:

Now, let’s discuss these two methods in elaboration!

You can simply sign a PDF file using the Draw tool in the Edge browser. These are the basic steps to digitally sign a PDF in Microsoft Edge:

Let us discuss the above-mentioned steps in detail!

Firstly, simply launch the Microsoft Edge browser on your PC. Then, you need to import a PDF document file that you want to sign using the Ctrl + O hotkey.

After you open the input PDF file, you will see various PDF reading as well as annotation features on the top toolbar. You will see page view, rotate, zoom, read aloud, highlight, erase, etc. To sign a PDF, you need to use the Draw tool; simply click on the Draw option. And, choose the ink properties including the color and thickness of the drawing pen.

Now, draw your handwritten signature with the drawing pen anywhere on the PDF document. In case of any mistake, click on the Erase option and then delete the drawn signatures. You can then redraw the signature in the PDF.

Next, you need to save the PDF with an added handwritten signature. For that, click on the Save button to save the signature in the original PDF. Or, you can use the Save as button to create a new PDF document with a handwritten signature.

So, this is how you can easily sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge using its native draw feature.

Some add-ons for Edge enable you to add a signature to your PDF right in the browser. In this post, we are going to use this free add-on service called Digital Signature for PDF Files. It is a dedicated add-on service using which you can add handwritten signatures to a PDF file in the Edge browser. This add-on service also lets you draw individual handwritten signatures and download them in PDF, JPG, and PNG format. You can then add the created signatures to your Word, PDF, and other documents.

Here are the main steps to sign a PDF in Microsoft Edge using this add-on:

Now, let us elaborate on these steps for you!

Firstly, launch the Microsoft Edge browser and open the Add-ons page in it. To do so, go to the three-bar menu and click on the Extensions option.

Next, press the Get extensions for Microsoft Edge option and it will navigate you to the Edge Add-ons page.

In the search bar, type and enter Digital Signature for PDF Files. You will see the Digital Signature for PDF Files add-on in the result. Click on the Get button to install and add this extension to the Edge browser.

Now, click on the icon of this newly installed add-on from the extension badge. And, press the PDF and Advanced Options button.

A Signature Pad page will open up in a new tab. In this tab, click on the Pick a PDF File option to browse and load the source PDF document to which you want to add a handwritten signature.

After that, you need to set up the drawing options to draw a signature including minimum line width, maximum line width, minimum dot distance, pen color, and velocity factor. Configure these options and then draw a signature on the PDF at any part of it. You can also select the page of the PDF on which you want to add a handwritten signature.

In case you want to delete the added signature and draw a new signature, tap on the New Signature option and then draw your signature. It also provides you an Undo option to undo a previous action.

When you are done signing a PDF document, choose PDF Document as the Save Format and then click on the Download to Disk button to save the signed PDF document.

This is how you can draw a signature and sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge using this free add-on.

Microsoft Edge allows some basic editing as of now. It provides a few annotation features including Highlight, Draw, and Erase using which you can draw annotations on a PDF document. You can also rotate pages of a PDF document in Edge.

Also, the new Chromium-based Edge browser supports Chrome-based extensions, so you can search for a PDF editing extension on the Edge Add-ons page and install one to edit PDF in Edge.

Signing a PDF in Windows 10 is quite easy. You can draw and add a signature to a PDF in Windows using various software and tools like Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Foxit Reader, SmallPDF, and some other PDF readers.

You can enable digital signature in Microsoft Edge. However, this feature is available in the Microsoft Edge Canary version as of now. You can check out the detailed procedure to enable and validate the digital signatures in Microsoft Edge that we covered earlier.

TIP: DocuSign lets you sign documents electronically

It is quite easy to digitally sign a PDF document in Windows 10. You can use a free software like Advanced PDF Utilities Free that allows you to edit as well as digitally sign a PDF file. Also, you can electronically sign a PDF document right from your Edge browser that we already discussed in this article.

Hope this article helps you sign a PDF document in Microsoft Edge browse using two simple methods.

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