The 13th Global Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum took place on September 17th. Originally scheduled for March 2020, the Forum was postponed due to the health and safety concerns associated with the Coronavirus.
This virtual one-day Forum featured 100+ infrastructure project presentations from across the globe, key sessions centered around global recovery, and participation from 1000+ infrastructure executives. Because CG/LA Forums are not sector-specific, participants had the opportunity to connect with and hear from projects representing twelve infrastructure sectors, including Highways & Bridges, Urban Mass Transit, Water / Wastewater, and Energy; and hear best practices from industry experts. The Forum also featured the 2020 Project of the Year Awards sponsored by Oracle. Winners included:
Job Creation: Metropolitan Integrated Transit System, Florianópolis Brazil
Integration of the Public Transport System in the Metropolitan Region of Florianópolis is a critical project that will contribute to the movement of people, following the guidelines of PLAMUS - Plan for Sustainable Urban Mobility of Greater Florianópolis.
Sustainability/Green Infrastructure: HydroPort Wales
HydroPort is proposing to build the World’s first tidal powered 1.5M Teu container terminal in south Wales, UK. The Terminal will be run on power developed in the foundations from reversible turbines working almost 24/7 as tides run through them on the rising and departing tides every day.
Finance/Funding: Solidarity Transport Hub Poland
Solidarity Transport Hub Poland is a private, $10B planned transfer hub between Warsaw and Łódź, which will integrate air, rail and road transport. The airport will handle 45 million passengers a year. STH will include railway investments: railway nod in the airport’s close vicinity as well as connections within Poland enabling transfer between Warsaw and the largest Polish cities in less than 2.5 hours.
Engineering: Alcântara Port Terminal, Brazil
The Alcântara Port Terminal (TPA) is a multimodal logistics solution comprising a deep water port with a railroad, the Maranhão Railway (E.F. Maranhão). There are three market segments: agribusiness, iron ore, and a space center that result from the development of this terminal.
Strategic: The CLARA Plan, Australia
The CLARA Plan is a multi-billion dollar project linking Sidney to Melbourne. This integrative project is looking to build advanced smart-cities between the two metropolitan areas, connecting them by High-Speed Rail (HSR). The HSR is worth US$11.9 billion with an additional $3.49 billion per city in upfront infrastructure, including hospitals, transit systems, schools, water, energy, etc.
The theme of the Forum was “Real Opportunities; Bold Recovery”. At a time of enormous global challenge, coupled with an extraordinary explosion in technology and new business models, the Global Strategic Infrastructure Leadership Forum brought people from across the global marketplace to: (1) build business; (2) revitalize networks; and (3) engage with key thought leaders on the trends driving new technology, active investors and economic recovery.