February 25, 2008

Public Infrastructure

Infrastructure value increasing as it gets younger

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

The value of public infrastructure in Alberta is rising faster than in any other province.

A study by Statistics Canada released on Feb. 13 found that since 2001, the average age of public infrastructure in Canada has been falling almost steadily.

The report, which is entitled Age of Public Infrastructure: A provincial Perspective, estimates the average age of public infrastructure in 2007 was 16.3 years, down from its peak of 17.5 in 2000.

“This rejuvenating trend was fuelled by large investments in highways and roads in Quebec and Ontario,” stated the report.

“A reduction in the average age is indicative of a general trend toward younger stock of investments. It doesn’t imply necessarily that each physical asset is younger or in better condition or that a greater proportion of assets meets specific quality standards.”

Ontario’s public infrastructure stock amounted to $93.3 billion, or 33 per cent of the country’s total.

The province had the youngest public infrastructure in the country, averaging 15.4 years in 2007.

In Quebec, the value of total public infrastructure stock amounted to $68.1 billion or 24 per cent of the national total in 2007.

The average age of public infrastructure assets was determined to be 17.2 years in 2007, which represents a reduction from its value of 18.6 years in 2000.

However, the average age of Quebec public infrastructure stock was still above the Canadian average in 2007.

The province with the most rapid growth in the value of total public infrastructure was Alberta, which increased at an average annual rate of 2.1 per cent between 2001 and 2007.

This brought the total value to $35.2 billion or 12 per cent of the national total in 2007.

“In the 1990’s we had a period of restraint in Alberta, but, as oil sands development moved forward, public investment in infrastructure followed,” said Bill Stuart, vice president of Merit contractors Association in Alberta.

“There was a fall off after 9/11, then there has been huge growth. We are on the way up, but with higher costs.”

The study states that Alberta had the third youngest public infrastructure in the country at 15.6 years in 2007.

The age of Alberta’s public infrastructure increased in the 1990’s, from an average all-time low age of 14.5 years in 1989 to 16.7 years in 1999.

The recent drop is being driven by large investments since the beginning of this decade.

The value of public infrastructure in B.C. amounted to $40.9 billion in 2007, representing 14 per cent of the national total.

B.C. had the fourth youngest public infrastructure in Canada, with an average age of 16.3 years in 2007.

This figure matched the national average.

The average age of the public infrastructure in B.C. increased from a low of 14.7 years in 1973 to a high of 16.7 years in 2002.

However, the discarding of large older investments and inflow of new stock into the water supply systems since then has reversed the trend and lowered the age to an average of 16.3 years in 2007.

The study identifies the following five categories of public asset; highways and roads, bridges and overpasses, water supply systems, wastewater treatment facilities and sanitary and storm sewers.

Gross stock in these assets in Canada amounted to $286.2 billion in 2007, 5.3 per cent more than in 2001.

These assets accounted for more than 80 per cent of all engineering infrastructure owned by federal, provincial and municipal governments in 2007.

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