New Infrastructure Survey Reveals U.S. Weakness and Need for Clear Vision

CG/LA Infrastructure LLC, a world leader in infrastructure project identification and development, recently announced the full results of its annual survey of public and private sector executives on the U.S. infrastructure market.

The survey paints a gloomy picture for U.S. infrastructure with scores at all time lows. In terms of a country’s ability to develop infrastructure projects, the United States is on par with Peru and well below countries like Brazil, India, and China, which compete for scarce infrastructure dollars and expertise.

“We have conducted this survey around the world, and the overall results for the United States are startling,” said Norman F. Anderson, president and CEO of CG/LA Infrastructure. “Particularly in the wake of President Obama’s jobs plan and call for an infrastructure bank, the survey reveals the need for urgent action and a clear infrastructure strategy for the United States.”

The CIC survey is a CG/LA proprietary tool initially developed with the World Economic Forum to score a country’s capacity to develop infrastructure projects. The CIC survey questions respondents on eight fundamental areas for infrastructure project development. Each area is ranked on a scale from one to 10, with scores below seven indicating a failing grade.

Consisting of seven out of eight failing grades in Overall Vision, Public Sector Technical Capacity, Public Sector Strategic Capacity, Great Projects, Leadership, Long-term Project Performance, and Local Equity Capacity, the United States scored 43.8 in 2011, compared to Brazil’s most recent score of 50.8 and India’s score of 51.3. Overall, the scores suggest that the United States is falling into second-rate status in the infrastructure arena, becoming a country that does not attract top-flight expertise or resources to its infrastructure business. In particular, responses on questions about leadership and vision yielded lower scores than any previously surveyed country.

However, a glimmer of hope exists with 93 percent of executives believing business conditions in 2012 will be either the same, or slightly better. Also, there is a confidence in the technical capabilities of the U.S. private sector to build necessary infrastructure projects reflected by the passing grade in Engineering, Procurement, Construction firms (EPC).