Did you know? Fascinating infrastructure facts

Quality infrastructure is essential for progress: it connects people, enables trade, powers businesses, provides opportunities for communities and stimulates the economy by generating millions of jobs each year. The $3.6 trillion annual global infrastructure market contributes to our quality of life in a plethora of ways – from airports, wind farms and gas lines to broadband networks, railways, buildings and roads, we depend on the industry daily. Read on for ten infrastructure facts from around the world.

Göbekli Tepe (Go-Beck-Lee-Te-Peh), circa 9600 BC, is believed to be the oldest human-built structure ever discovered. Officially a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Göbekli Tepe is situated in the South East of Turkey and its name translates roughly to ‘Belly Hill’. The existing remains of the ancient structure include more than 200 pillars in around 20 circles, with each pillar standing about six metres tall and weighing over seven tons. Believed to have once been a temple, the pillars feature carvings of animals and other images.

According to a worldwide survey conducted in 2019 by the World Economic Forum, Singapore ranks number one in the world for its infrastructure, with an impressive score of 95.4 on a scale of 0 to 100. For comparison, Australia ranked 29th, with a score of 72.9, while the US placed 13th, Canada as 26th, China as 36th and New Zealand as 46th on the list. These infrastructure scores were calculated based on factors such as the quality of roads, railroad density, airport connectivity, efficiency of seaport services, electric power transmission and distribution losses, exposure to unsafe drinking water and reliability of water supply.

Located in Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railway spans a whopping 9,289 kilometres, making it the longest railway line in the world. As the name suggests, the railway crosses the entire width of Russia and is in fact wider than Russia itself, which has a maximum east-west distance of 9,000 kilometres. The line, which runs from the capital Moscow all the way to Vladivstok on the Pacific Ocean, is also one of the busiest railway lines in the world. Construction began in 1891 and was completed eight and a half years later. Despite some of its darker contributions to the history books, such as helping to instigate a war, the Trans-Siberian Railway is recognised as one of the most impressive engineering feats in modern history.