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The race for the White House has now been decided and the new US president, Barack Obama, awaits inauguration. The elections were fought on many issues, but those that caught my eye were the policy proposals and arguments around infrastructure. Years of underinvestment in the US has left much of its infrastructure in a perilous condition – as the collapse of the Minneapolis bridge last year showed. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that $1.6trn is needed over five years to bring US infrastructure to a state of good repair – a mammoth amount, especially now when US public spending is being stretched to prop up the financial system. President-elect Obama has proposed the creation of a national reinvestment bank to reverse years of underinvestment and generate millions of jobs in the process. The need for sound infrastructure should never be underestimated. It supports economic growth and productivity and, in turn, is linked to higher living standards, rising levels of employment and incomes, and lower prices for goods and services. Infrastructure also supports and attracts business investment and innovation. Many public sector organisations in the UK have done much to rebalance underinvestment, sometimes seeking public-private partnerships, such as PFIs, and accessing other programmes to improve the quality of assets. As we are tighten our belts, we should not fall into the trap of failing to maintain and invest in our infrastructure. Such a failure may offer attractive short-term savings, but it will only come back to haunt us. Maybe, it is time to reflect on the importance of maintaining quality core services and assets, rather than attempting to offer more, and spreading our resources too thinly. Mike Suarez is director of finance at Lambeth LBC

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FINANCE

Money Matters - US election

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