For the past several years, we have all heard the compelling reasons why infrastructure investing in the United States will be the next big thing: the American Society of Civil Engineers’ report on Americas infrastructure, which gives U.S. infrastructure a D+; issues surrounding deferred maintenance and the increasing safety risks and costs; taxpayer reluctance to take on additional local, state and federal government debt and taxes; the United States’ slow recovery from the global financial crisis and the need for a catalyst to help increase GDP and employment; and the list just goes on.
With all of those and other reasons, I believe nearly everyone can agree that it is not a question of if, just of when — and where. Where are we going to get the capital to pay for it all? Catching up on the deferred maintenance in the United States alone is estimated to cost well over a trillion dollars. And that doesn’t take into account greenfield projects and updating other assets. Most experts believe traditional financing cannot do it all, which means there is clearly a place for public-private partnerships.
At this year’s Institutional Investing in Infrastructure conference, we are going to take a fresh look at this important topic, with Richard Ornitz, our keynote speaker, addressing global P3 opportunities. Some of the questions he’ll cover include: Are we at the tipping point for P3 deals, or do we still have a long way to go to make them an everyday part of the landscape? What’s new and different today, and what’s in the works to change the pace of P3 in the United States and really open up the deal flow? Which states and sectors have the most promising deal flow, and why?
Richard’s distinguished background is uniquely suited to give us insights on this and other key topics surrounding global public private partnerships. He is on the board of the United Nations Public Private Partnership Council. He previously served as chairman of the U.S. Infrastructure Private Advisory Group and on the Private Advisory Board to the U.S. Secretary of State. Plus, he has closed in excess of $100 billion of infrastructure deals around the world.
After Richard’s address, conference co-chair Jonathan Schein, senior vice president and general manager – sales for Institutional Real Estate, Inc. will sit down with him and really dive into details and drivers of some of the key trends that Richard covered in his presentation to give more clarity and insights.
To help us and everyone attending the I3 conference, we are inviting everyone to share thoughts and possible questions to cover at Jonathan’s interview on this blog post, so we can make the most out of this session. Let us know what you’d like Richard Ornitz to be asked!
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John Hunt is conference program manager at Institutional Real Estate, Inc.
