Infrastructure productivity: How to save $1 trillion a year

This report first addresses the question of the size of the infrastructure gap, focusing on transport (road, rail, ports, and airports), power, and water, as well as communications infrastructure. It then discusses in detail three main ways to achieve an improvement in infrastructure productivity delivering savings of 40 percent: selecting projects more carefully, delivering them more efficiently, and getting more out of existing assets as an alternative to building new ones. Many of our recommendations are equally pertinent for social infrastructure such as health care and education, as well as real estate. We believe that looking beyond what countries need to invest to rethinking how they invest can shift the debate on infrastructure policy from pessimism and paralysis to a renewed belief in the possible, and concrete action.