Most of the infrastructure in the U.S. are in desperate need of an upgrade. Highways, bridges, water and sewer systems, electrical grid, railroads, etc. were built long time ago – some 50 years or more – and could use a makeover. The following is a summary of key points from a research report on the U.S. infrastructure by Christine Todd and Daniel Marques of Standish and my comments.

1. State and local governments, not the Federal government, have fund over three-quarters of the nation’s water, roads, bridges, power transmission systems. etc.
2. Infrastructure spending during the Great and Depression and the 1950-60s when the interstate highway system was built.
3. The U.S. government estimates about 70,000 bridges (or) one in nine are structurally deficient.
4. Among Developed countries, the U.S. lags in infrastructure investment as the chart below indicates. Countries like Japan and Australia have excellent infrastructure as they spend substantially more. For example, Japanese transplantation infrastructure such as their high-speed rail network and the ease of commuting between two places puts the U.S. passenger rail “network” to shame.

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5. U.S. public spending on infrastrcure has dropped since the global financial crisis of 2008. It has dropped by 30% to reach a decades-low of -1.55%.

6. Globally U.S. infrastructure is rated very low when compared to other developed countries. In the past six years, the U.S. has dropped five spots to reach the 12th in the world.

7. The American Society of Civil Engineers(ASCE) gives a grade of D+ for the state of U.S. infrastructure.

It should be noted however that certain areas of infrastructure are good. For instance, toll roads are generally in good shape as private firms that build and operate these roads are able to invest and generate high revenues from them. Thats the case with public spending. Though primarily only two parties are in this democratic country, political fighting between them delays policy making decisions.As a result the general public suffers. Americans waste billions of hours each year sitting on traffic-clogged roads. Unlike the politicians in the past, nowadays every politician seems to lack a vision for the country and instead are selfish to the nth degree and is constantly thinking about holding on to power growing his/her own glory……

Source: Aging U.S. Infrastructure Drives Opportunity for Muni Bond Investors, Feb 15, Standish

Africa requires massive investments in power generation to meet its demand. According to an article by Dr.Mark Mobius  the continent has only 7% of the power generating capacity of the U.S. This fact is astonishing since Africa is blessed with plenty of natural resources such as water, solar energy, oil, etc.

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From the article:

Using per-capita data, a US citizen on average uses 12,461 kilowatt hours of electricity per annum; a citizen of Ethiopia uses 52. On average, only 30% of Sub-Saharan Africa citizens have any access to electric power,² and even where power is available, provision can be sporadic, with frequent power cuts and “brown-outs.” One of my trips to Nigeria was enlivened by a power cut that unexpectedly left us stranded in the elevator at one of Lagos’s most prestigious hotels. For factories and hospitals, such interruptions can be more than inconveniencing.

If the challenge posed by Africa’s electric power deficit is monumental, so is the effort currently going into addressing the problem. Many of the most dramatic projects relate to harnessing the potential of Africa’s great rivers. Chinese firms utilizing skills built up during China’s program of dam building and electricity generating-plant expansion are prominent in many of the schemes. The Ethiopian government has been particularly active in this area, with major projects involving most of the rivers flowing through the country, headed by a plan to dam the Blue Nile that could potentially generate six gigawatts of power. Uganda, Mozambique and Ghana are also among countries that have major hydroelectric schemes under way or planned. But the largest of all is the Inga Falls Number Three project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo, initially intended to generate 4.8 gigawatts, but with a potential ultimate generating capacity in excess of 40 gigawatts.³

2. Source: ©OECD/IEA, 2014, Africa Energy Outlook, A Focus on Energy Prospects in Sub-Saharan Africa, World Energy Outlook special report, IEA Publishing. Licence http://www.iea.org/t&c/termsandconditions/

3. Source: International Rivers.Org, Grand Inga Dam, DR Congo.