To unlock the full return of investment on infrastructure projects, investors and firms need to fully appreciate and understand the vision of the infrastructure and view it with a different perspective – beyond just financing, building and operations.

That was the sentiment shared by Sean Chiao, AECOM’s APAC President at the Milken Institute Asia Summit 2016, held in Singapore recently.

Highlighting AECOM’s approach in helping its clients achieve its best returns, Sean said: “Given the time and financial investment on any infrastructure project, to maximize its full ROI, our approach as a leading design engineering consultancy has always been to think beyond the immediate needs of cities we design for, understand their challenges and consider key factors such as connectivity, productivity, resilience, authenticity and partnership in our design thinking. This will help cities to sustain their success into the future.”

Sean cited the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor – one of the world’s largest scale infrastructure projects – as an example. To deliver such a large scale complex project, one that is close to 1,500 km across seven states, connectivity is no longer just about mobility – building roads, bridges or airports to connect communities – it is to consider the entire ecosystem of what is needed for success.

The session titled Accelerating Infrastructure: Leveraging Partnerships and Mitigating Risks was moderated by Cesar Purisima, Asia Fellow, Milken Institute; former Secretary of Finance, Republic of the Philippines. It also included senior executives from Eastspring Investments, World Bank Group and Jawaharlal Nehru University as part of its panel discussion.