A long term view of infrastructure is required as: (a) a major project takes a few years to construct (b) carrying out the activities required prior to actual implementation may take anything between 5–10 years (c) considering a short design period (20 years) requires frequent renewal/updating of infrastructure installations (d) the project’s useful life starts after its completion, and will be providing infrastructure services for the next 50 to 100 years or more. Forecasting is one method used for such planning. The spirit of sustainable development requires that intergenerational equity be carefully addressed. A backcasting approach, preferably together with other methods can be very helpful in achieving sustainable development goals.
Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.
Niels Bohr
If you don’t invest for the long term, there is no short term.
George David
Objectives can be compared to a compass bearing by which a ship navigates. A compass bearing is firm, but in actual navigation, a ship may veer off its course for many miles. Without a compass bearing, a ship would neither find its port nor be able to estimate the time required to get there.
Peter Drucker
The best way to predict your future is to invent it.
Abraham Lincoln
The Australia to 2050 report highlights something that is well understood by South Australians, that infrastructure plays a key role in long-term economic expansion.
Kevin Rudd
The infrastructure deficit in India is widely recognised as a constraint on growth. Congestion on highways, ports, airports, and railways has increased, as have power shortages … . This widening deficit is characterised by the fact that the demand has grown much beyond the anticipated levels and the creation of infrastructure has persistently fallen short of the targets set by the government.
Gajendra Haldea
What we build today will last centuries.
Santiago Calatrava
The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.
Peter Drucker
It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.
Winston Churchill
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