Infrastructure Asset Management

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Background on IAM

Infrastructure Asset Management as a Key Enabler of the SDGs

The Sevilla Commitment adopted at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, introduced for the first time a global mandate on infrastructure asset management. It calls on all countries and the international system to strengthen capacities to manage public assets effectively at both national and subnational levels. This recognition places infrastructure asset management at the center of sustainable development and financing strategies.

Link to Service Delivery and the SDGs

Infrastructure assets form the backbone of service delivery. Roads, schools, hospitals, water systems, energy grids, and digital networks determine whether people have access to reliable and affordable services. When assets are neglected, service delivery is disrupted, undermining progress on education, health, equality, sustainable cities, and climate action. By contrast, well managed assets ensure continuous, equitable, and affordable services that support multiple Sustainable Development Goals.

Saving Billions through System Wide Management

The UN Handbook on Infrastructure Asset Management shows that system wide management across large portfolios can generate enormous cost savings, but it also brings significant complexity. Governments are faced with thousands of assets, each with different conditions, life cycles, and service demands. Determining which interventions to prioritize requires reliable data, strong information systems, and the ability to model tradeoffs across entire networks. When sequencing is based on accurate information and multidisciplinary collaboration between finance, engineering, planning, and environmental teams, governments can identify the most cost effective path forward. A road resurfaced on time costs only a fraction of a full reconstruction. A wastewater system upgraded in phases avoids the collapse that would require total replacement. By navigating this complexity with data driven planning and whole of government coordination, well timed and well prioritized interventions save governments billions of dollars and release resources that can be redirected to other development priorities.

Whole of Government Approach

Infrastructure asset management requires more than technical expertise. It calls for strong coordination across ministries of finance, planning, and public works, as well as close collaboration with municipalities and local governments that own and operate most public assets. A whole of government approach ensures that infrastructure decisions are embedded in national budgets, fiscal frameworks, climate strategies, and local service delivery. Without this integration, opportunities to maximize the value of existing infrastructure are lost.

UN Training and Support

The United Nations provides training and advisory services to help countries adopt infrastructure asset management as a whole of government practice. These programmes help build institutional frameworks, strengthen and customize diagnostic tools, and guide the development and implementation of Asset Management Plans at national and subnational levels. With the new mandate established by the Sevilla Compromise, there is both political momentum and technical support for countries to scale up system wide infrastructure asset management practices that improve service delivery, strengthen resilience, and unlock major fiscal savings in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.