Managing Infrastructure Assets for Sustainable Development: A Handbook for Local and National Governments

This UN/DESA-UNCDF Handbook represents a significant contribution to the Financing for Sustainable Development agenda, advancing both thought leadership and action. Finalized in the crucible of the COVID-19 crisis, the Handbook brings global visibility to infrastructure asset management as a critical, high impact area for investing in local capacities to mobilize and manage financing for sustainable development, including in emergencies.

With trendy focus on the ‘new and shiny’, old assets often go neglected, while new ones are built without putting in place effective asset management frameworks. Underinvestment in infrastructure maintenance has been estimated to cost some developing countries up to 2 per cent growth in GDP. 

The Handbook calls national and local governments to action and provides them with concrete guidance on how to ensure the resilience, sustainability and accessibility of existing and planned infrastructure investments. It contains practical tools to improve infrastructure asset management, plus recommendations on how to adapt them to socio-economic and environmental challenges of our time, including climate change and public health emergencies.