‘Massive’ infrastructure investment needed to meet future demand

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The OECD has said Australia needs to improve its infrastructure development as it predicts rail freight to triple, air traffic to double and port activity to quadruple Worldwide by 2030.

The OECD’s Strategic Transport Infrastructure Needs to 2030 report said that current infrastructure couldn’t handle ‘even a 50% increase in demand’.

The report said that ‘Governments must act today to ensure that the infrastructure needed in 2020-2030 will be planned, developed and operational in time’.

The OECD estimates USD 53 trillion of investment, equivalent to an annual 2.5% of global GDP, will be needed to meet demand over the coming decades.

Over USD 11 trillion of that will be required for ports, airports and key rail routes alone.

Increased private-sector investment in strategic transport infrastructure will be essential, says the report.

Some countries have begun linking strategic infrastructure planning to long-term infrastructure funds, as is the case in Canada, Denmark, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

But other countries, including Australia, India and the United States, ‘should improve financing mechanisms to ensure funding is consistent with strategic infrastructure needs’.

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