The World Economic Forum’s Positive Infrastructure Report (PIR) finds that world faces a global infrastructure deficit of US$2 trillion per year over the next 20 years. The report analyses the four largest infrastructure markets – Latin America, China, India and the US, and studies how to best deploy public funds made available through global fiscal stimuli packages to further the cause of infrastructure development.
The report has clarified that though the term “infrastructure” could denote a wide range of facilities and systems including economic and financial infrastructure, social infrastructure and physical infrastructure, the study has centred on physical infrastructure. As per the report, the projections for the future infrastructural development have been drawn from a study by the consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton.
In a 2007 report, Booz Allen Hamilton has estimated that investment needed to “modernize obsolescent systems and meet expanding demand” for infrastructure worldwide between 2005 and 2030 was at about US$ 41 trillion. It said the North American (the US and the Canadian) share of the infrastructure needs alone would be around US$ 6.5 trillion through 2030.
While the PIR finds both involvement by public sector as in the case of China and a broad-based public private partnership (PPP) seen in India has country-specific successful models in the speedy development of infrastructural projects. The report highlights the Eleventh Five Year Plan for Energy development by the National Development and Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China as an example of one such plan which sets specific goals for the development of energy infrastructure in China. The PPP-based National Highway Development Programme of India which aims to deliver about 55,000 kilometres of highways is cited as one good example with a clearly well-defined role for the private sector.
The Positive Infrastructure Initiative was launched in 2009 in response to a clear mandate provided to the Forum at the Annual Meeting 2009 in Davos by the CEOs of the leading infrastructural organizations to ensure that the massive fiscal spending on infrastructure not only generates the employment to restart the global economy but also creates infrastructure assets that foster long-term economic competitiveness, and are environmentally and socially sustainable.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas. The official website of the WEF in its latest press release has made available details about the report.
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