Booz Allen Hamilton suggests how to reinvigorate electricity, water, and transportation systems (page 1 of 5)

Although the circumstances vary from one urban area to the next, they all have one thing in common: The critical infrastructure that is taken for granted by both their citizens and their government leaders is technologically outdated, woefully inadequate, increasingly fragile, or all of the above. In some cities, the quality of water, power, and transportation infrastructure is noticeably declining. In others, it was never very good to begin with. And few cities have enough of it to meet future needs.

"The Middle East region faces the same challenges as any other region in the world when it comes to electricity, transportation and water systems," said Walid Fayad of Booz Allen Hamilton.

"The countries here must work alongside the private sector to build a lasting infrastructure that will have positive benefits for years to come,"

he added.

An estimate developed by Booz Allen Hamilton suggests the magnitude of the problem. Over the next 25 years, modernizing and expanding the water, electricity, and transportation systems of the cities of the world will require approximately $40 trillion — a figure roughly equivalent to the 2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world.

But the cost of not meeting the challenge could be even greater than $40 trillion. A city's ability to respond effectively to a crisis for instance, such as pandemic disease or a terrorist attack, also depends on robust infrastructure: not just standard access to water, power, and mobility, but the extra capacity and backup needed for life under duress. In short, although the threats of global climate change and terrorist attack have occupied much of the industrialized world's collective attention, inadequate and fragile urban infrastructure could well do more harm to a larger number of people. Sooner or later, the money needed to modernize and expand the world's urban infrastructure will have to be spent.

Infrastructure fatigue

The demand for essential infrastructure is exploding. The world's population is projected to increase by one-third, to exceed 8 billion by 2050, with — for the first time in human history — more than 50 percent of humanity living in metropolitan areas. The requirements for water, power, and mobility will rise accordingly, even as population density makes it more difficult to build and protect the robust infrastructure needed to satisfy that demand.

The typical life cycle of urban development also reinforces demand for infrastructure. As more people live and work in metropolitan areas, they need and expect more affordable housing. The default result, barring a coordinated effort to align mass transit systems and transit-oriented development, is a sprawling metropolitan area encompassing miles of suburbs — and in less-developed countries, shantytowns. In such low-population-density environments, roads and highways become the only transportation mode that works. This, as we have seen time and again, becomes a recipe for gridlock. Water and electricity grids must also serve more people over greater distances than in the past.

Meanwhile, the quality and quantity of supply are increasingly threatened everywhere in three primary areas: power, transportation and water. The need for better facilities and infrastructure to deliver more of these to growing populations is greater than ever.

These three problem areas would be challenging enough if they were happening separately.