McKinsey report rethinks approaches to infrastructure

In May, McKinsey & Co.’s infrastructure practice hosted its second annual Global Infrastructure Initiative in Rio de Janeiro, bringing together infrastructure investment and development practitioners and thinkers from around the globe to focus on “overcoming the recurring obstacles that arise on a global basis, and devising ways to accelerate the timely delivery of essential infrastructure.”

McKinsey also released a report to accompany the meeting — Rethinking Infrastructure: Voices from the Global Infrastructure Initiative.

The report builds on McKinsey’s past research that outlines the need for $57 trillion in infrastructure investment globally through 2030 and continues with new research focused on:

Winning public consent: the role of public opinion on infrastructure policies and how infrastructure leaders can learn from the agility and customer focus of consumer-goods companies,

Financing and ownership: the challenge of matching projects with institutional investors, public-private partnerships, the Hong Kong rail-plus-property model, and alternatives to direct sales as ways of increasing revenue,

Improvement in design: the benefits of building resilience into infrastructure projects, “inspired” and future-proof architecture, and the prefabrication and energy-efficient designs of the Broad Group, and

New infrastructure in emerging economies: two reflections on the challenge and change needed in China’s remarkable infrastructure effort, as well as a look at the opportunities for energy infrastructure.