Despite a still shaky economic recovery, construction and design firm executives are cautiously optimistic thanks to surging worldwide demand for infrastructure upgrades, especially in the energy sector, says management consultant KPMG International in its 2013 global construction survey released on Oct. 8. Survey results are based on early-year responses from 165 industry CEOs and top executives in 29 countries, about 16% in North America.
The power sector "without question" is attracting the most attention from industry executives, says Geno Armstrong, global leader of KPMG's engineering and construction practice. He noted the need for infrastructure to support the extraction, transport and generation of traditional and sustainable energy sources. The survey notes that 66% of respondents expect national governmental infrastructure plans to drive future market growth. But their optimism is tempered by the current economic climate. About 72% of execs say budget deficits and public funding remain the greatest barriers to growth. Respondents also do not expect public-private partnerships to fill the gap, with only 28% seeing private-sector infrastructure funding as an "important driver" of future projects.