A failing, critical infrastructure is hampering economic progress and exposing businesses and communities to significant risks. Existing physical and digital infrastructure is under stress from population growth and faces challenges from cyberattacks, extreme weather, and climate change. The failure of critical infrastructure and infrastructure investment shortfalls are prominent among longer-term concerns.
Although there is widespread consensus among the government and businesses on the importance of infrastructure to a growing economy and evolving society, we continue to ignore the glaring problems around us. Much of our infrastructure investment gap is attributable to the road and energy sectors, with the remainder in telecommunications, water, airports, and ports.
Given the fiscal pressures on the government, the private sector needs to be engaged more fully to close the investment gap. To improve the resilience of our infrastructure, we need new approaches to public-private partnerships, project finance, and risk management.
High-quality public infrastructure supports growth, improves well-being, and generates jobs. Yet infrastructure investment is complex, and getting from conception to construction and operation is a long road fraught with obstacles and pitfalls. Poor governance is a major reason why infrastructure projects often fail to meet their timeframe, budget, and service delivery objectives.
Regardless of how public infrastructure services are delivered, infrastructure policymaking highlights a number of challenges that Malta will face. Designing a strategic vision is crucial but difficult. We have no integrated strategy but instead rely on sectoral plans. Infrastructure projects are vulnerable to corruption, capture, and mismanagement throughout the infrastructure cycle; the government seems to have recognised this, yet integrity instruments often leave gaps.
Political dynamics may undermine sound decision-making with regards to infrastructure when processes for identifying priority projects and choosing delivery modes are not sufficiently formalised. Without well-managed consultation, good projects may falter. Consultation is common in the preparation phase but less common in setting an overall vision, prioritising investments, or assessing needs.
A lack of systematic data collection on performance undermines evidence-based decision-making and the disclosure of key information. Central infrastructure units tend to focus on delivering the asset, while auditors are not usually tasked with following performance. Lack of disclosure of data on contracts and subsequent operations tends to reinforce concerns about fraud and lack of transparency.
We need a national long-term strategic vision that addresses infrastructure service needs. The strategy should be politically sanctioned, coordinated across levels of government, take stakeholder views into account, and be based on clear assumptions. Infrastructure has long-term impact and gestation periods and requires predictability and sober analysis, but infrastructure is extremely sensitive to political and economic/business cycles that vary markedly over time.
Corruption allegations often surround government-led infrastructure projects. The extent of public officials' discretion on the investment decision, the scale and complexity of the projects, as well as the multiplicity of stages and stakeholders involved, make infrastructure projects highly vulnerable to corruption. Fairness, fiscal prudence, and cost-effectiveness may be undermined when politicians favour infrastructure that disproportionately benefits their donors or core electoral base to the detriment of society as a whole.
From another perspective, infrastructure plans in our country fail to link to the integrated economic reforms needed for prosperity. Despite infrastructure spending conjuring up images of traditional public goods such as roads, drainage, electricity distribution, and schools, we must consider infrastructure not just bricks and mortar but a bridge to the future.
Infrastructure systems should be resilient, adaptable to new circumstances, and future-proof. Critical risks materialise, and technological change can fundamentally disrupt sectors and economies.
A considerable share of the country's growth over the last two decades was driven by the importation of cheap foreign labour. Yet this model is running out of steam. Our vision should see economic prosperity built on a firm foundation. We must adhere to the principle of sustainability, upholding a system that is stable and forward-looking. The country must use its resources to invest in the future, improving its human capital through education and training, particularly in the field of applied sciences. But economic growth must never come at the expense of the environment or the long-term well-being of the Maltese. No effort should be spared to protect Malta's environment and preserve the nation's cultural heritage.
The implication of the high population is the downward pressure it puts on growth. This is mainly because investment funds have to be concentrated on meeting the needs of the growing population (education, health, housing, police, and other infrastructure) rather than productivity growth. As such, the need to lower the growth rate of the population is more urgent than ever.
For our nation to progress, it must have a clear idea of its longer-term aspirations. Without this clarity, it will neither be able to prepare a coherent roadmap for action nor adopt and implement the policies that would lead towards the objectives. A national vision is meant to provide clarity to our shared vision of the future. Any "Maltese Dream" must be based on a vision of a prosperous, equitable, tolerant, and dynamic society.
We need to do better and faster. There is a general misconception that faster means no or less planning and more action. The reality is that the quality of planning is one of the key determinants of the speed of action and desired outcomes. The nature and role of planning might have undergone some transformation, but our national planning must be more participatory, collaborative, people-oriented, and market-oriented. Plans succeed when they manifest the aspirations of a nation, empower the citizens, provide equal and equitable opportunities to all, and assign a very well-defined role to the government as a supporter, facilitator, regulator, and performance-driven service provider.
Dr Mark Said is a lawyer