Infrastructure development could provide an important boost to COVID-19 recovery among developing Asian economies but will require financing solutions that address growing constraints on the use of public funds for projects due to the pandemic. New funding sources are particularly vital for tackling the region’s sustainable infrastructure investment gap, which is equal to 2.4% of GDP and includes financing for climate mitigation and adaptation.

This third virtual workshop in an ADBI series on big data-driven infrastructure impact analysis in Asia examined big data’s role in gauging the impacts of COVID-19 era infrastructure growth. It discussed how infrastructure spillover effects can be channeled to attract private investment for new projects after the pandemic. It also reviewed how mobile phone data can be used to understand the significance of travel for sustainable development moving forward. The facilitators were Satish Ukkusuri of Purdue University and Takahiro Yabe of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

See more about this ADBI event.