Planning infrastructural investments in the context of sustainable development

Abstract

The development of appropriate infrastructure is an essential element of the socio-economic development of a country, region or municipality. The state of Polish infrastructure is still far from satisfactory, which constitutes a barrier to rapid economic growth and social development. Technological challenges and ever-growing social expectations are forcing policy-makers to more carefully plan and implement infrastructure projects. Currently the doctrine concerning the planning and implementation of infrastructure investments is undergoing change, marked by a transition from quantitative to qualitative approaches. The aim of this article is to present an infrastructure investment planning model based on sustainable development indicators which would adequately and appropriately measure the three major dimensions (economic, social and environmental) of a planned investment. The frame indicator model involves three levels of analysis. The first level refers to a set of partial indicators selected from the database of the indicators defined in the SDI model. The second level of indicators refers to the selection of evaluation indicators: the value, efficiency, effectiveness and quality of a given infrastructure investment. The third level of indicators based on identifying a synthetic index for evaluating an infrastructure investment project. The model developed and presented in this article will enable decision-makers to make a comprehensive assessment of planned infrastructure investments, which allows them to choose the best projects in terms of the socio-economic development of a given area.