The Foundation for Science and Technology debate (held at The Royal Society, London, UK)

The Foundation for Science and Technology hosted a discussion on building effective and efficient infrastructure in the UK, in reference to the new National Infrastructure Delivery Plan 2016 to 2021. Good, secure infrastructure is one of the most basic components to a resilient and sustainable city. Having a set of stable infrastructure is an asset in face of any instances of interrupted system such as during conflict and in disasters.

During the discussion, Lord Adonis, Chair of National Infrastructure Commission, raised that one of the biggest hindrances to infrastructure developments in the UK proposed during the talk might be the political environment, where political movement might impede on the progress of infrastructure building. This is suggested to have caused the start / stop nature to a lot of projects. He also suggested that success to some infrastructure projects can be attributed to the serendipity of regional and national cross-party consensus.

Attention to the social impacts and long-term effects of the infrastructure should also be given to prevent unfortunate results. One highlighted example mentioned by Terry Morgan, chairman of Crossrail, was the training up of hundreds of apprentices to provide skills and increase their employment in the future. This example does not only concern with the direct results of the individual project, but also the long-term consequences.

While I am not very familiar to the problems faced by a lot of Hong Kong government’s infrastructural plans, the above issues can be considered in reflection in a Hong Kong context, and leaves a lot to desire in order to reach an ideal solution for building a comprehensive and resilient infrastructure.