Skip to main content

World Economic Forum report: how to accelerate infrastructure delivery

A new report from the World Economic Forum, Accelerating Infrastructure Delivery: New Evidence from International Financial Institutions, examines how the experience of international financial institutions (IFIs) can help bridge the growing infrastructure deficit. To accelerate economic growth, global levels of installed infrastructure, which currently stand at around US$45 trillion, need to grow to nearly US$100 trillion by 2030. To achieve this, governments need to increase public sector spending as a
May 20, 2014 Read time: 3 mins
A new report from the World Economic Forum, Accelerating Infrastructure Delivery: New Evidence from International Financial Institutions, examines how the experience of international financial institutions (IFIs) can help bridge the growing infrastructure deficit.

To accelerate economic growth, global levels of installed infrastructure, which currently stand at around US$45 trillion, need to grow to nearly US$100 trillion by 2030. To achieve this, governments need to increase public sector spending as a percentage of GDP and attract an estimated US$30 trillion in additional infrastructure capacity by 2030. Recent analysis shows that this level of enhanced investment will need to be derived from better pipeline management, greatly enhanced project preparation and delivery mechanisms based on user charges and other methods of revenue generation, as well as streamlined regulatory practices and deeper financial participation from the capital markets in the sector.

Drawing on the IFIs' 20 years of international investment experience, the report outlines how the lessons learned can be applicable for many emerging market economies, as they seek to develop strategic infrastructure. One of the main insights relates to the potential for strong financial and economic returns on investment in infrastructure.

The report focuses on three core areas: funding and financing of infrastructure projects; project preparation; and innovative funding approaches. It calls for robust structuring of project revenue and cash flow generation, a step-change in the quality of project preparation, and the use of innovative funding techniques such as value capture. It uses specific case studies from IFIs to demonstrate how all of these changes can be achieved.

Thomas Maier, managing director of infrastructure at the 2001 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure, said the following about the report: “The best way to close the infrastructure gap is for public decision-makers to recognise the importance of increased user charges and for them to see that value capture will play a critical role in generating meaningful infrastructure uplift. We hope that this report, with its examples of success stories from both emerging and mature markets, will make a useful contribution to this debate.”

Alex Wong, senior director at the World Economic Forum, said that to accelerate infrastructure development, “governments should concentrate on building new assets, with robust funding and adequate project preparation. Any government may use the best practices presented in this report as guidance for improving project preparation and funding of infrastructure assets. This will speed up the development of infrastructure for the benefit of all.”

To help narrow the infrastructure gap, the World Economic Forum and its constituents are working to develop new forms of public-private cooperation in infrastructure. This year, the World Economic Forum will share the best practices collected over the three phases of the Strategic Infrastructure Initiative.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Monetising time savings makes toll roads financially stack up, says research
    September 29, 2017
    Putting a financial value on the savings from traffic congestion, noise and air pollution as a result of toll roads and tunnels will make large infrastructure projects more cost effective, according to a new study by Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT). Sae Chi, from the university’s Science and Engineering Faculty, has compared the financial and economic cost of public and privately operated toll roads and tunnels, and found the net impacts to the community should be taken into account
  • Australian transportation sector to remain stable through 2016, says Fitch
    July 28, 2016
    Fitch Ratings says in a newly published report, 2016 Mid-Year Outlook: Australian Transportation, that the agency's outlook on Australian transportation infrastructure is stable. It says toll roads will benefit from continuing healthy economic growth, while the weaker Australian dollar will help support ports with exposure to the commodity export sector. However, exposure to medium-term bullet debt could leave issuers vulnerable to refinancing risk in the event of a significant downturn in the Australian
  • Quality public transport systems key to safety, says report
    February 9, 2015
    A new report, Traffic Safety on Bus Priority Systems, produced by Embarq with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, argues the case that investment in high quality public transport systems in developing world cities can help achieve significant traffic safety benefits, while meeting the growing mobility needs of city residents. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 1.2 million people die on the world’s roads each year, and traffic crashes could become the fifth leading cause of death by
  • Building Europe’s roads for driverless age
    June 17, 2022
    Creating smart, co-operative road transport systems that harness the white heat of technology won’t be easy but a new document shows the way – Andrew Stone does some reading…