Mayor of London Boris Johnson during the launch of the Institute of Infrastructure Studies at Four Seasons Hotel yesterday. Shaival Dalal
DOHA: The visiting Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, in the presence of senior officials of Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFC Authority) yesterday announced the launch of a new non-profit foundation — Institute for Infrastructure Studies (IIS).
IIS aims to become the global centre of excellence in understanding the financing, risk appraisal and management of large complex infrastructure projects.
The Institute, an international UK and Middle East-based think-tank, founded by infrastructure project delivery firm British Consulting (BC), will be based in Doha and London and will supported by the QFC Authority.
British Ambassador to Qatar, Michael O’Neill CMG, the Mayor of London and CEO and Board member of QFC Authority, Shashank Srivastava, joined more than 50 senior officials from the Qatar, London and wider Gulf financial community and key players in Gulf government circles, at the launch.
The non-profit institute in its initial five-year strategy has plans to provide original thinking and research into the appraisal and better management of risks associated with large, complex infrastructure programmes.
Ian Kennedy, co-founder and director of the Institute, said: “This Institute will tackle public and freight transportation systems, ports, social infrastructure and stadia and we look forward to working with and for governments, financial and investment institutions and sponsors of large complex projects to find practical solutions to the funding and management of this increasingly desirable asset class.”
Until now, there has been no independent organisation focused exclusively on researching the problems of infrastructure project delivery, risk appraisal and funding in order to develop new practical methodologies.
Qatar, as a joint host of the institute, is positioning itself as the ‘Washington of the Middle East’ for infrastructure funding and is well-placed to personally benefit from the research.
The country is in close proximity to a large number of projects within a larger government sponsored infrastructure programme, while the Qatar government has allocated 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to fund a string of mega-projects.
Kennedy added that governments around the world have seized the idea that investment in infrastructure is the single most effective policy option available to them to stimulate their economies.
“Yet the forecast global expenditure of $50trn-$70trn over the next 17 years may suffer from huge constraints in the availability of finance as investors become more risk averse in the face of costly project delays that impede achievement of the very social objectives they set out to facilitate,” he said.
The institute will provide original research, commissioned studies, conference and workshop events and a data centre or library that will act as the global point of reference.
The main elements of the institute, a library and research staff will be located here within the QFC Authority. The Peninsula
