Nipawin MIC 2015: Integrating Economic Development Principles into Regional Infrastructure Planning

Here are notes from the last session this morning.

 

·         Projects are not just about capital and O&M Expenses but also socio-economic costs

·         As an example when considering highways consider issues such as:

·         Time

·         Vehicle

·         Safety

·         Environment

·         All costs can be quantified including user costs

·         A $1.5 Billion investment can have a social benefit of $11 Billion

·         An Asset Management strategy is to

·         Reduce Demand

·         Manage Demand

·         Increase Supply

·         Types of Cost Recovery include:

·         Everyone pays

·         Developers pay through development/levies

·         User pay

·         Premium pricing for Level of Service

·         Conclusion

·         Integrated planning can have a significant greater effect

·         Increase government revenue

·         A more business oriented approach based on a widely defined ROI (return on investment)

·         Critical infrastructure development needs to precede land development

·         Lessons

·         1. Maximize ROI on all assets

·         2. Go where the need will be