Capital projects: will health infrastructure suffer from…a wood shortage???

COVID-19 entails a global shortage of construction materials

This is the double backlash effect: the global market of materials and supplies is affected by the COVID-19. To put it mildly, supply chains are in tatters while prices are sky rocketing. Newspapers the world around express concern about the consequences of this shortage on the construction sector.

Wood, aluminium, steel? Price increases can range from 50 to 80%, bolstered by resisting economies in the US and China stimulating the global demand. What about the impact on health infrastructure?

That is the double whammy: health systems considerably diminished by the pandemic and still facing the challenge of addressing the SDG targets -the clock is ticking and 2030 already in view- need to invest massively in capital projects. But what impact of these prices and shortage of materials on both the availability of construction inputs as well as the global cost of infrastructure projects?

One of the side question could also be: will this worldwide trend affect the prioritization of asset refurbishment projects over construction of new infrastructure? In other words: will projects be selected using a new criterion….the least consumption of materials?

For illustration of this trend: click here (article in French).