Construction sector needs to be part of the conversation on infrastructure investment decisions at the highest level, say industry leaders.
Construction and infrastructure and how it is planned and financed will need to change and there will be no business-as-usual approach post-pandemic, according to FIDIC president elect Tony Barry.
Addressing a session today (10.9.21) on “Planning strategic infrastructure and paying for it” at the FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference, Barry also said that there would need to be an increasing focus on the infrastructure governance process, how investment is derived and integrity is maintained in the future.
Also speaking at the online event, Aurecon CEO William Cox, said: “We keep coming back to the issue of sustainability and also a focus on investment models and how governments can use their balance sheets to facilitate investments. We need to ask the confronting questions about not what is right for now but also what we need for the future, because that is going to be changing as a result of the period we have been through.”
Cox also said that the industry also had a key responsibility to ensure that taxpayers’ money was spent wisely and efficiently and so it was crucial for the sector to be part of the conversation on infrastructure investment decisions at the highest level.
Highlighting the importance of sustainability, Geneva Airport CEO André Schneider said that there had been significant investment in sustainable infrastructure, especially transport, in a sector which had been particularly hard hit by the pandemic. Schneider also said that he thought it would be several years yet before the aviation sector fully recovered from the damage done during the Covid crisis but he was confident it would recover and thrive again.
Offering a perspective from Zimbabwe, Grace Bema, executive director of BCHOD Consulting Engineers, said that the government there had prioritised public infrastructure development as part of its post-Covid plan. Increases in power generation, water projects and digital connectivity were on the cards going forward, said Bema and formed part of an overall African infrastructure masterplan.
Filippo Gaddo, head of economics at Arup Group, said that the innovation needed for new and existing infrastructure could be funded through a more collaborative approach amongst partners. “There will be big changes in the future – especially around the issue of hydrogen – and the advisor community will need to be alive of these changes to keep up to date and work effectively with clients,” he said.
The funding was there in the world but it was the details of the financing approach that needed sorting out, said Sheladia Associates president and CEO, Manish Kothari. “The trick is to mobilise the finance that is already there and then mobilise governments, investors, funders and other stakeholders to harness the money that is available to meet the requirements of the sustainable development goals,” he said.
Kothari also highlighted the importance of the multilateral development banks in providing finance, but they were not the only answer. There were still private investors coming into the market, but risk was an issue that needed to be addressed and government had an important role in ensuring that risks were equitably shared and allocated.
