Infrastructure Systems and their Impact on Improvement of Economy Benefits of a Developed Country - Essay Example

Infrastructure Systems and their Impact on Improvement of Economy, Social & Health Benefits of a Developed country ID 19714 Order No. 258861 03 December 2008 Acknowledgements Table of Contents: List of Tables: Serial No. Description Table 1 Cost to GDP of EU, Norway and Switzerland due to negative impacts by Infrastructure Services: WHO survey 2000; sourced from Chapman, Ralph, 2005) List of Figures: Serial No. Description Figure 1 ROI on investment on Capital Investments on Infrastructure Services in US (Sourced from Lakhsmanan, 2007) Figure 2 A Cascade of benefits from Infrastructure Services (Lakhsmanan, 2007) Figure 3 Direct as well as Indirect Contribution to the Global GDP by the Global Air Transport (Sourced from Air Transport Action Group, IATA, 2008) Figure 4 Picture of a heavily congested road in US (Source: Chapman, Ralph, 2005) Figure 5 Social Infrastructure Clusters (Sourced from: Waitakere City Council, 2007) Introduction: The Infrastructure and the corresponding services form the primary foundation of economic stability & growth of a country. The dynamics required by the businesses run by a country to ensure growth & performance in the local and global markets are driven by the infrastructure facilities available to them. The businesses cannot perform their transactions if the raw materials cannot reach production shop-floors, employees cannot reach the workplace, machines cannot run, products are not delivered to customer, communications do not happen, invoices cannot be generated, etc. A close look at the mode of operandi of any business reveals that almost every move by the business is dependent upon one or the another Infrastructure service provided by the country - Transport, Water, Electricity, Landlines, Mobile Phones, Internet, Parking, etc. Moreover, people cannot socialize if the infrastructure facilities are not adequate for them to go out and engage with the social system of the country - meeting people, shopping, fun & entertainment, education, welfare, etc. Having realized the importance of Infrastructure Services for the businesses as well as the social system, it is hereby emphasized that the Infrastructure Facilities also impact the health & safety of human beings substantially - positively as well as negatively. There is a limit up to which the homeland in a developed country can take infrastructure developments. If the economic growth keeps on surging thus increasing demands on the Infrastructure, at some stage the country has no option but to start eating away the natural resources & beauty of the country thus chopping off forests/greeneries and convert them into cement jungles. This is when the health & safety of natives of the country starts deteriorating exponentially. A matured country should keep this fact high under consideration thus not hesitating in creating policies invoking major social changes in the interest of protection of natural resources, health & environment in the country. Overall, the policy makers should maintain a strong control on the capitalists who are desperate to grow their businesses & profits and thus try to influence politicians/decision makers to take decisions on Infrastructure developments in their personal interests completely overlooking the bigger damages that they may be causing. This paper is a critical analysis of the impact of urban infrastructure of a developed country on the economy, social system and human health & safety and the balance that need to be maintained ensuring that too much of emphasis on one factor (say economy) does not compromise another factor (say Human health & safety) considerably. Review of Literature/Research/Surveys: Sir Winston Churchill Once Said "First we shape our cities and then they shape us" (sourced from Chapman, Ralph, 2005). The Infrastructure services of a country are not only a major factor for economic stability of a country but are also the substantial source of income contributing to the GDP. The income may be direct (taxations/duties) or indirect (cost savings). The discussion paper by joint transport research center (OECD and International Transport Forum) presents the following data (Figure 1) that is the return on investment on Highway Capital, Private Capital and Public Interest Rates in US between 1951 to 1989 (Lakhsmanan, 2007). Figure 1: ROI on investment on Capital Investments on Infrastructure Services in US (Sourced from Lakhsmanan, 2007) There are many aspects of ROI on investments on Infrastructure Services apart from the direct cash earned by the Government - reduced prices of essential commodities, improved income of natives, enhanced productivity of businesses, social savings, agricultural expansion, industrial expansion, etc. The following figure from the same paper presents the various economic benefits from Transport Infrastructure (Lakhsmanan, 2007). Figure 2: A Cascade of benefits from Infrastructure Services (Lakhsmanan, 2007) Deployment of better Infrastructure Services cause cascaded effects on the economic growth of a country as presented in figure 2. The transport infrastructure creates a fundamental framework that offers multiple options to lower costs and improve time saving in human & material transit. These basic factors then lead to increased accessibility of raw materials, labour and knowledge workers that can be utilized by businesses to boost productivity and expand on larger horizons. Regions with good infrastructure services are benefited by increased foreign investments as the businesses outside the region find higher feasibility aspects to establish their operations in the region. The fundamental framework of Infrastructure Services makes room for a number of technical innovations thus modernising the cities for the benefits of the people. Overall, the country experiences sound growth in the GDP as a result of improved overall productivity. A report by IATA presents the figures of GDP contributed by the air transport industry to the world economy. IATA claims that the air transport industry contributes USD 1.1 Trillion per year (2.3%) to the global GDP by virtue of direct as well as indirect impacts. While Air Transport is indispensable for the tourism industry, a survey by IATA also confirms that about 20% of the organizations surveyed in US, France, Chile, China, and Czech Republic confirm that absence of good air transport links did affect their overall investments. If the sample size is increased such that developing countries like India and Indonesia are included, it is for sure that more percentage of people will agree to this fact. Further to this, IATA claims that the global tourism due to air transport alone contributes USD 90 billion per year to global GDP and more than 17 million people are employed across the world in the tourism industry due to air transport alone (Air Transport Action Group, 2008). Figure 3: Direct as well as Indirect Contribution to the Global GDP by the Global Air Transport (Sourced from Air Transport Action Group, IATA, 2008) Having analyzed the economic benefits of Infrastructure services, it is hereby emphasized that the growth in Infrastructure Services needs to be strongly focussed towards the health & safety of the people of the country. Although hidden, the indirect impact of deterioration in health & safety conditions of the people of a country can cost the local economy very dearly. The well being of the native of a country is primarily influenced by Economic Conditions, Social Influences, Environment and Culture. All the four influencing factors are impacted by the infrastructure services of the country - positively as well as negatively (Chapman, Ralph, 2005). Following is a chart that is pertaining to the cost to the overall GDP of EU, Norway and Switzerland due to loss of health & safety of the people caused by negative impacts of Infrastructure issues (WHO survey 2000; sourced from: Chapman, Ralph, 2005) : Table 1: Cost to GDP of EU, Norway and Switzerland due to negative impacts by Infrastructure Services: WHO survey 2000; sourced from Chapman, Ralph, 2005) The figures appear mammoth and not easy to justify because most of them are pertaining to indirect costs. The Author didn't find the methodology of calculation of these costs and hence an attempt is made hereby to present quantitative analysis of what contributes to this cost: Machines alone cannot run the businesses in a country. The primary contribution to the economy of the country is by the people - physical workers or knowledge workers. The efficiency of these workers would reduce drastically if induced health & safety problems occur because of poorly planned or managed Infrastructure. Refer to the Picture of traffic congestion below: Figure 4: Picture of a heavily congested road in US (Source: Chapman, Ralph, 2005) It is mere common sense to arrive at the conclusion that all people who face this congestion daily would suffer from serious mental agony and fatigue thus facing reduction of their own efficiencies drastically. All such humans who face this agony daily are bound to exhibit irritated behaviours like breaching traffic rules thus causing accidents. The pollution caused by such high density of traffic in a small place again is a major cause of health hazards. Overall, the collective impact on the country is huge if the people face this agony on a regular basis. The physical & mental efficiencies of people will reduce drastically thus impacting the productivity of the country as a whole. Naturally, this is bound to hit the GDP heavily. WHO argues that it is not only the congestions that are causing serious impact to the health & safety but also the change in habit of people to carry out minimal physical movements. In the recent report by World Health Organization, Europe it has been presented that physical activity by humans is inversely proportionate to risk of serious health hazards like Cardiovascular diseases, Stroke, Cancer, Type II Diabetes, etc. and Mortality rate (Kavill, Nick and Kahlmeier et al, 2007). In this context, WHO recommends that Infrastructure Services should be deployed/modified in such a way that people find it more beneficial to walk or use bicycles rather than cars. For example, within small distances in city limits short cut secured routes for cycling should be deployed in such a way that the time taken to reach certain areas by car is more than the time taken by cycling. In fact, NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit already has policies, guidelines and plans to ensure that people are encouraged to walk or cycle to work-place, shops or schools. The organization encourages creation & protection of green belts and recreational areas such that people are able to maintain healthy practices in day to day life. As a matter of fact, UK has deployed some best practices to encourage usage of cycles or public transport - like hefty parking charges for cars, congestion charges levied on cars in congested areas like central London, priority lanes for public transport like buses, extremely low cost fares in public transport, dedicated short-cut routes for buses, etc. These practices have encouraged usage of public transport thus reducing driving fatigue and improved physical activities among citizens (travelling by public transport also requires substantial walking). Overall, the focus of NHS London pertaining to healthy urban development is on Healthy Lifestyles, Quality of Housing, Access to work, mobility in humans, public transport use, reduction of dependency on car, minimize need for travel, access to food & basic amenities, clean water, air quality, neighbourhood amenity, social cohesion, public services, reduced burning of natural resources and change of climate. The NHS London planning guide clearly articulates the positive and negative effects of planning thus helping the town planners to follow the think-out-of-box methodology with appropriate proactiveness in their approach. The guidelines are set forth very clearly with respect to the safety systems in Infrastructure services to ensure secured interaction between the Infrastructure components (like a transport medium or bus stand) with the human beings (NHS 2008). These measures form an end to end package with few conflicting objectives as well that need to be managed very carefully. For example, focussing too much on cycling tracks should not compromise accessibility within the area. Overall, a perfect balance among the four pillars of well being of citizens of the country - Economic Conditions, Social Influences, Environment and Culture need to be maintained when planning for the Infrastructure services. Development of cycling tracks has been prioritised in other developed countries as well. The recommendations by Watkins, Steve (2008) for improvement of transport facilities across greater Manchester include wider thoughts that we have discussed till now in this dissertation. He argues that saturation on roads has no end - congestions will keep on increasing as more and more cars pour into the city. Adding any number of lanes to the roads will not help. Probably, one day people will give up to the never ending increase in travelling time and stop going to work through these roads. But this is not the way congestions should be managed. In line with the recommendations of WHO and NHS London, he also recommends deployment of the Greater Manchester Cycling network such that people cycle to shorter distances or other wise park them in public places to avail the public transport system (road or rail) for longer distances. The physical activity in people will increase considerably thus leading to gross improvement in health & safety. The Infrastructure facilities like shopping malls, corporate complexes, schools, recreation clubs, pubs, hospitals, etc. should all be developed in such a way that every individual can reach them on a bicycle. This would also ensure that the people who cannot afford cars can reach the public facilities comfortably. This system would also ensure better means for mobility of the disabled using self operated wheel chairs that can be comfortably driven on the cycling tracks. The modern development practices apply strong focus on green infrastructure development which again is the system that very carefully takes care of health & safety hazards. The standard widely followed for development of green infrastructure development is OHSAS 18001 which is an end to end framework that can be implemented to ensure that the level of Health & Safety is maintained at a desired level. This standard covers a wide range of scenarios where probability of hazards are high - emissions of hazardous gases, control on air quality, hot water systems, sprinkler systems, high noise zones, high temperature systems, urban heat island effects, general plant & machinery systems, compressed gas cylinders, high voltage/high current electrical equipment, cranes, hoists, platforms, etc (www.ohsas-18001-occupational-health-and-safety.com). The performance standards for every infrastructure component and their interconnections need to be defined such that they can be closely monitored for non-compliances and their impact on human health & safety can be controlled adequately (Wolf, Kathleen L. 2003). In the paper by Waitakere City Council, they presented the concept of Social Infrastructure that comprises of wide range of facilities & services like Education, Health, Justice, Social Services, Emergency (Fire, Ambulance, Police), Community Centers - like City Halls, Churches, parks, open spaces, stadiums, etc., Leisure facilities, public libraries, etc. They presented the system of social infrastructure clusters that take care of well being of every individual of the country (shown below): Figure 5: Social Infrastructure Clusters (Sourced from: Waitakere City Council, 2007) Although the city infrastructure services are not developed in the form of such a cluster, it presents a good view into the various Infrastructure Services that directly impact the Human Beings in terms of well being, environment & safety, social interactions, cross community support, human development. The developments should actually take care of all missing links in Infrastructure Developments that may end up ignoring certain facets of requirements of the countryside zones. Example, A motorway passing through a small population zone but not having a connected to the central road of the zone - thus resulting in a missing link on the road network causing serious problems to that zone. Overall, such small mistakes can cause serious impacts on the well being of the locals in that zone and hence the planners need to be very careful in ensuring that no missing or broken links exist in their planning (Banister, David and Clark, Owen et al, 2005). Conclusion: Long lived Infrastructure Services for the fundamental economic baseline of a country. All the processes pertaining to the productivity & growth of the country depend upon one or the other infrastructure service within the social & cultural framework of the nation. The planning of Infrastructure Services, however, can have positive as well as negative effects on the overall health & safety of the natives of the country. The policies & procedures of the planning systems of a country should proactively list down all positive as well as negative effects such that the planners are careful in putting together the designs. A number of development authorities across the globe in developed countries have realised the aftermaths of modernisation on human health & safety as a result of heads-up provided by WHO and thus have started taking measures like "reduction of congestions", "improvement of people mobility" and "Green Infrastructure" projects. Reference List: Air Transport Action Group. The Economic and Social benefits of Air Transport 2008. IATA. 2008. Banister, David and Clark, Owen et al. An Investigation into the links between Transport Infrastructure Investment and Sustainable Rural Communities. Transport & Travel Research Ltd and The Barlett School of Planning, University College, London. 2005. Baum, Ken. Infrastructure Planning and Development: Environmental and Social Considerations of Sectoral Reform. United States Agency International Development (USAID). 2005. Chapman, Ralph. The Value of Urban Design - Avoiding Infrastructure Mistakes. Victoria University of Wellington. ANZSEE Conference. 2005. Kavill, Nick and Kahlmeier et al. Economic Assessment of Transport Infrastructure and Policies - Methodological Guidance on the Economic Appraisal of health effects related to walking and cycling. World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe. 2007. Lakshmanan, T.R. The Wider Economic benefits of Transportation - An Overview. Boston University and Joint Transport Research Center - OECD and International Transport Forum. 2007. Waitakere City Council. Social Infrastructure Planning Framework for Waitakere City. Waitakere City Council. 2007. Watkins, Steve Dr. A Public Health Approach to Transport Infrastructure in Greater Manchester. Director of Public Health Stockport, and Lead GM Director of Public Health on Transport. A report to the boards of the primary care trusts in Greater Manchester by the Greater Manchester Directors of Public Health. 2008. NHS. Watch Out for Health. NHS London Healthy Urban Development Unit. 2008. Wolf, Kathleen L. Ergonomics of the City: Green Infrastructure and Social Benefits. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington (Seattle). Engineering Green: Proceedings of the 11th National Urban Forest Conference. Washington D.C.: American Forests. 2003 End of Document Read More