Former 'Star' Countries Slip in Capacity to Create Infrastructure
Brazil, similarly, scored low in 2013 compared to its 2010 score, with a score of 42.7, down from 48.9.
“It’s very hard to develop infrastructure quickly and without high transaction costs quickly and on budget when you have such a weak public sector and questionable long-term project performance,” said Anderson.
Spain, once the star of European infrastructure development, has also slipped badly.
The U.S. is no better, with a 2013 score of 40.5.
One of the chief problems in the U.S., Anderson said, is that public works officials are hamstrung in their capacity to work with the private sector. Government officials “can’t even go to conferences," Anderson said. "It’s a conflict of interest.”
This article was updated 5/28/2013 to correctly identify Active Risk as a provider of risk management software.
