G20 Announces The Global Infrastructure Hub – Will It Make A Difference?

Sydney is to be home for a new G20-backed Global Infrastructure Hub (GIH) as part of a programme "to support public and private investment in quality infrastructure". A massive USD 2 trillion increase in global infrastructure capacity by 2030 could achieved by the GIH's goal of "improving project preparation, structuring and delivery" - so says the B20, a private-sector business group affiliated with the G20. What will the GIH bring to the table and will it deliver on the promises? The challenge for the Sydney GIH will be to adopt a truly global outlook.

Infrastructure has been a priority for the Australian G20 presidency and the choice of Sydney as the home of the GIH has been viewed as a significant achievement for Australia. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared that he wants to be known as "an infrastructure Prime Minister". Sydney has been chosen because it is Australia's major financial centre and a base for the world's leading infrastructure related service firms, including contractors, consultants and project managers. The formal announcement of the GIH came via the G20 leaders' communique on 16 November 2014, with eight nations, including the US, Britain and Australia, committed to support financially the USD 15 million initiative.

During the almost year-long consultation process which led to the announcement of the GIH, there were a number of detractors, sceptical of another costly institution far away from Europe and the US with an agenda which arguably other bodies like the World Bank or the OECD could take on. There was also a concern that the GIH would chiefly be a "legacy monument" for the G20 host nation, Australia. With only a four-year mandate, the pressure is now on to make the GIH work - and Australia, which has significant, solid experience in setting up its own similar state-based and national bodies, will give it a good go.

There is, of course, a fundamental question: will the proposed functions of the GIH - more efficient information gathering and sharing, and improvement, standardisation and streamlining of processes, including legal processes - achieve the results?

According to The G20 Note on the Global Infrastructure Initiative, the GIH is to:

develop a knowledge-sharing network to aggregate and share information on infrastructure projects and financing between governments, international organisations, development banks, national infrastructure institutions and the private sector; address key data gaps that...