Finance officers are now increasingly asking important questions about long-term financial planning and how it relates to asset management. Australia mandates planning for infrastructure provision beyond the 10-year horizon for all local governments. Canada has followed suit. And regardless of legislative and industry pressures, public agency professionals already know that they need to justify why and where money is spent in order to ensure that their communities’ essential infrastructure assets are optimized and protected.

The public sector is the custodian of billions of dollars in essential assets: utility infrastructure, highways, hospitals, schools, ports, and more. These assets inevitably deteriorate, requiring maintenance and eventually replacement. Governments can use strategic asset management—a future-focused modeling methodology that is specific to long-life facilities and infrastructure assets—to figure out what to address and when.

• Publication date: April 2021
• Author: Ashay Prabhu