CIVIL CONSTRUCTION
INFRASTRUCTURE OUTLOOK:
2020 AND
BEYOND by Adrian Hart, Associate Director, BIS Oxford Economics
It’s a new year and a new decade. For infrastructure, the 2020s offer substantial growth opportunities and challenges after a bumpy 2019.
E
conomic infrastructure (or engineering) construction activity – measured as the sum of transport, utilities, mining and heavy industry construction – declined in 2018/19. Some of this decline was expected, particularly in mining and heavy industry, where oil and gas activity normalised following a burst of completion works on LNG projects the year before. But there were also some surprises. Road construction activity fell earlier than anticipated as major projects that were started soon after the resources investment bust began to wind down without being completely replaced by new projects. Rail activity grew marginally, after nearly doubling in the previous three years. Conversely, publicly funded NBN-related works reached a new peak, but privately funded telecommunications investment fell away. All in all, total engineering construction work done fell to $88.5 billion in 2018/19 (in constant 2017/18 prices), the lowest level since 2007/08.
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March 2020 // Issue 14
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