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COVID-19 has hit the entire globe at once, slowing investment in resilient infrastructure that will improve lives over the long term. Effective governance is critical to ensure infrastructure projects are well planned, funded, and implemented.
What do COVID-19, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate change have in common? They depend on the same solution: quality infrastructure investment that helps us tackle these challenges in an integrated way, even with limited money.
It is also important to strengthen tax reforms and develop capital markets. But the biggest difference will come from making infrastructure investment more efficient through early planning, which leads to better project selection and value for money. Investing in resilient and adaptive infrastructure after COVID-19 can help us reignite global growth, attain the SDGs, and lessen climate risk. Asia and the Pacific needs to invest an estimated $26 trillion for water and sanitation, telecommunications, power, and transportation from 2016 to 2030.
A version of this article appears in the print on April 9, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
