Infrastructure needs long-term commitment
- Published: 08 July 2008 10:51
- Last Updated: 09 July 2008 09:32
Rosemary Beales, national director, Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association
Infrastructure may be more buoyant than some areas of construction at the moment but looking ahead the picture may not be so bright overall, says Rosemary Beales
Don't be fooled by the sharp spike in February in new orders for road construction, which consisted largely of the contract for completion of the M74, or by the rise in this year's Budget for major road construction and improvement in England shown in the Highways Agency's Business Plan 2008/9.
The plan not only fails to refresh the HA's programme of major schemes but casts doubt on previously approved motorway widening projects with hard-shoulder running now an alternative.
Network Rail has ambitious plans for investment, which could turn it into the industry's largest single client. But that depends on approval from the Office of Rail Regulation.
Water companies in England and Wales are close to the point at which they will submit their draft business plans for the next control period (2010/15) but there can be no firming of their water and sewerage works investment programmes until Ofwat has completed its price limit deliberations in 2009.
Looking at other sectors of the civils market - construction and maintenance of infrastructure for air or waterborne transport, or production and distribution of energy - the outlook is equally uncertain in respect of the Government's policies and also now, in less propitious economic conditions, of the private sector's continued willingness or ability to invest.
The outlook for the rolling out of much needed major civil engineering projects is more uncertain now than at any time in the past 20 years.
The industry remains optimistic, but the work we can see ahead of us has a five or six year horizon. There is still very little evidence that the Government is prepared to have a rolling plan for investment over a period of decades rather than years.
Providing a steady flow of investment in our infrastructure, planned and rolled out over a decade and beyond, will maintain confidence in a major part of the construction industry.
Our infrastructure sustains economic growth. Surely strategic plans for investment should be an essential element of this?
Rosemary Beales is national director of the Civil Engineering Contractors' Association
