THE last few days have been an unofficial, global “infrastructure week”, with the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road (BRI) strategy in Beijing, and an official launch on Wednesday (Oct 25) in Brussels of the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy.

Inevitably, much reportage has focused on the geopolitical ramifications of these two developments. Important as these are, however, organisations ranging from McKinsey to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have highlighted that these massive projects don’t – inevitably – have to be competitive.

The ADB, for instance, sees a regional infrastructure investment gap of some US$26 trillion in that area of the globe alone in the period to 2030.