The report, “Emerging Trends in Infrastructure 2018”, from KPMG International, says governments have the desire and ambition to invest, and new technologies and innovation are unlocking development opportunities. However, the divisions loom as hurdles.

The report identifies the trends that will pose the greatest challenges and fuel new opportunities for infrastructure projects over the coming year.

It cautions that today’s divisive politics may result in many worthy projects becoming stalled under the weight of political and social indecision. Yet the report also notes that there is still great opportunity.

Thailand has been developing infrastructure projects to support country-wide growth and connectivity between cities and other countries. Infrastructure projects not only help boost logistics and the economy, but also improve efficiency and raise the overall standard of living.

Massive projects – such as high-speed rail from the Northeast to Bangkok, North to South, East to West as well as the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) projects such as U-Tapao international airport and high-speed rail connecting three international airports – are rapidly moving forward. In doing so, they will help to create better interconnectivity within Thailand and in the region, said Tanate Kasemsarn, partner and head of infrastructure for KPMG in Thailand.

“In a world of rapid change, infrastructure is not always keeping pace with the technological, demographic and socio-economic developments,” Tanate said. “We continue to develop assets with 50 to 100-year lifespan expectations and build for the needs of today, not tomorrow. Planners, developers or other related organisations must design and contract future-proof infrastructure projects that could provide flexible solutions.”

Richard Threlfall, global head of infrastructure at KPMG International, said: “With the disruption, confusion and uncertainty of the past year, it would be easy to be very downbeat on the prospects for effective infrastructure development around the world.

“Yet demand for infrastructure continues to accelerate globally, and indeed the more infrastructure we build, the more we connect the world and increase its resilience to local political risk.”

Stephen Beatty, non-executive chair and lead on infrastructure in the Americas, said: “Those markets with vision and adaptable institutions should find ways to rise above the din of divisiveness.

“It takes a long-term perspective and purpose to accommodate and find ways to strike compromise between competing needs and interests. Those markets most adept at moving forward with purpose and vision stand to be most successful.”

The report points to the evolving security environment in many markets and argues that public spaces are becoming increasingly difficult to sustain. It notes that, having been on the back foot for several years, governments will now start to adopt a much more aggressive stance toward infrastructure security.

Against this backdrop of competing forces, the report also predicts that debates about sustainability – in all its forms – will become more critical than ever, not only for users and planners, but also for investors and owners.

“Today’s view of sustainability is far too narrow,” according to Julian Vella, infrastructure lead for KPMG in Asia Pacific. “Most people instinctively think about sustainability in terms of the environment, and that is clearly a critical consideration in any infrastructure project. But sustainability is actually a much wider concept, encompassing the social and technological sustainability of infrastructure and that is increasingly creating new pressures on decision-makers and planners.”