What governments need to know to avoid costly mistakes in infrastructure planning

Everyone relies on infrastructure. It provides essential services, from running water to the ability to travel from point A to B.

But it often takes time to address and deliver these needs.

This is why governments must spend more time planning and prioritising this infrastructure.

The ICE-convened Enabling Better Infrastructure (EBI) programme held a UK showcase event to share key learnings and demonstrate the value of strategic infrastructure planning.

The insights, which were closely linked to the EBI principles, showed how governments can avoid costly mistakes.

Here are the key takeaways:

Principle 1 – Creating a clear vision for infrastructure

All governments should have a clear vision before acting on an infrastructure strategy.

This can help governments keep track of their long-term plans, even when political changes result in project cancellations.

For example, Northern Ireland established a Regional Transportation Strategy over 20 years ago.

The strong vision laid out in the strategy has helped Northern Ireland deliver the infrastructure needed to support its spatial and economic development (e.g., building connections to airports, ports and across borders) despite political and project changes.

One way to create a clear vision is to build consensus.

This can be achieved by communicating the benefits of a long-term strategy to everyone involved in the planning process (e.g., politicians, engineers, and the public).

This ensures engagement and transparency from the very beginning, which helps establish a clear vision that everyone can agree on.

Principle 4 – Scoping ahead to drive success

To avoid any barriers to infrastructure delivery, governments should consider any financial, technical, and delivery needs upfront.

The NZIC has done this by creating a national pipeline of projects, which helps improve planning, coordination, and delivery within its infrastructure system.

The plan brings together infrastructure sector professionals who make informed decisions on sharing resources and achieving better overall outcomes for New Zealand.

This pipeline has helped NZIC track projects from the early stages and determine which can be delivered and which are likely to take longer to finish.

Principle 6 – Using affordability to prioritise projects

Having a good handle on affordability can help governments reach a reasonable infrastructure plan.

The NZIC uses a benchmarking approach to prioritise projects. This involves setting a target for how much a government should spend on infrastructure.

NZIC also compares per-capita investments across sectors.

For example, the NZIC determined that the electricity sector showed a slight increase in per capita spending over the last 30 years. Meanwhile, the transportation sector showed an increase of 400%.

This has helped New Zealand reflect on the different needs each sector requires and how the government should prioritise funds.

Principle 7 – Establishing relationships for long-term change

Building relationships between all stakeholders involved in the infrastructure process ensures infrastructure projects and plans can stand the test of time.

The OECD builds relationships by releasing an annual Drivers of trust in Public Institutions survey, which encourages transparency between the public and the government.

To maintain infrastructure, all levels of government should work closely together and focus more on the service the infrastructure provides rather than the product itself.

This would help improve communication between governments and establish how all levels of government can support each other to maintain infrastructure.

Collaborating on infrastructure

The discussion also highlighted the importance of engineers and politicians working together.

Engineers should try to better understand politicians and explain infrastructure in a way that focuses on its benefits for people.

A people-focused approach more closely aligns with politicians' interests since they are elected to serve their communities.

This approach can help engineers get political buy-in from the whole government and country.

Sharing insights for a purpose

The EBI showcase event demonstrated the value of learning and sharing to navigate potential challenges.

It highlighted the importance of incorporating all viewpoints, which helps establish a strong national vision.

It brings together experts across sectors and increases the longevity of infrastructure projects.

Scoping ahead ensures that the government will know which projects to prioritise based on deliverability and available finances.

Setting up a long-term infrastructure plan may be challenging, but sharing insights and best practices can help all governments do so with purpose, pace, and certainty.

Watch the EBI showcase event