The Revolution Hidden In India's Massive Infrastructure Buildout The crucial question for India today isn't how long this infrastructure boom will last
By Anoo Sen
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It's India's turn now.
Whenever a country rapidly industrializes, it comes with a huge infrastructure boom.
And that infrastructure boom always comes with the latest and greatest tech attached—making the newest member of the industrialized club the most modern, as well.
It happened in Britain, which kicked off industrialization in the late 1800s with the introduction of large-scale manufacturing and factories.
Not long after, it happened in the US—with a continent-spanning railroad and the world's first electrified cities.
It happened in Europe and Japan after the second World War, when decimated lands were renewed with low-cost public transport and high-speed rail.
Most recently, it's happened in China, with its Maglev trains and massive smart cities dominating the Middle Kingdom's GDP ever since Mao's rule ended.
Today, the US, Europe and Japan make incremental and post-hoc improvements overtop existing infrastructure.
Today, China's infrastructure spending has slowed, with the economy that depended on it slowing as well. China didn't just build its ghost cities in anticipation of further growth—it was to keep the infrastructure wheel churning.
It's India's turn now.
You've probably heard the much-ballyhooed American Infrastructure Act will increase spending to $1 trillion over the next decade.
Well — India is planning to spend $1.4 trillion over the next five years on infrastructure.
To put into perspective just how massive that spend is, India's entire GDP is only around $3 trillion.
That means around 10 per cent of the entire Indian economy will be devoted to infrastructure spending over the next half-decade.
And it's unlikely to slow up after that. Most major infrastructure projects take years; some take decades.
For India, the taps are just beginning to flow.
The crucial question for India today isn't how long this infrastructure boom will last.
It isn't even what economic benefits they will bring—that's important, but hard to nail down at this early juncture.
No — the real question is, which new infrastructure tech will be introduced in India, and quickly become the envy of the world — like Japan's bullet trains or China's Maglevs?
The answer may surprise you.
Modeling the path ahead
Undoubtedly, over the years of India's infrastructure boom, there will be many technologies introduced.
Some will prove exceptionally useful. Others, we'll learn over time, are boondoggles.
But there is one technology already available today—already being deployed in India—that seems certain to take its place in nearly all major infrastructure projects going forward.
And, interestingly, it's something that the general public will never see.
But everyone working infrastructure projects will hail as a godsend.
That technology? Hyper-realistic 3D modeling of complex systems and their interactions.
In other words—using this technology, project managers can build their project virtually to test everything out, before building it out for real.
This is more revolutionary than it appears at first blush.
To start, the average complex project wastes about 3-7 per cent of its budget on mistakes or unforeseen issues.
This can be the way that two subsystems interact… or unaccounted for tensile qualities in different construction materials.
Or any of a thousand other things that can go wrong on a complex project.
Using an advanced 3D modeling system — like TwinInfra software from Power Americas Resource Group, currently the only software that can handle projects of this complexity — nearly all of that waste can be eliminated.
Problems can be spotted and solved while they are still virtual — before any man-hours have been put into construction, before any concrete has been laid.
That may not sound exciting to those outside of the industry.
But — given the potential savings in both time and money — this is one of the more revolutionary advances construction has seen this century.
Consider — the reason Amazon dominates online retail is superior logistics — a small edge here and there adds up to impressive results.
And up to 7 per cent savings on construction and infrastructure projects? That is not a small edge, but a huge one.
Especially since the use of this modeling software averages out to only half a per cent of the overall budget.
Not to mention — infrastructure that's been tested against everything from freezes to floods will prove more effective at preventing bad outcomes, last longer through adverse conditions, and operate at peak performance for more of its working life.
There's a reason why India is so excited to use complex modeling software like Power Americas Resource Group's TwinInfra in its current and upcoming infrastructure projects.
The question isn't whether this is a worthwhile investment.
The question is, what other advances will 3D modeling software make possible?