What is Social Infrastructure?

Infrastructure can broadly be defined as long-term physical assets that operate in markets with high barriers to entry and enable the provision of goods and services.

Social Infrastructure is a subset of the infrastructure sector and typically includes assets that accommodate social services. As set out in the table below, examples of Social Infrastructure Assets include schools, universities, hospitals, prisons and community housing. Social Infrastructure does not typically extend to the provision of social services, such as the provision of teachers at a school or custodial services at a prison.

In contrast, economic infrastructure supports economic activity and is often characterised by ‘user-pays’ or demand-based revenue streams (such as tolls on toll roads or landing fees for an airport).  In New Zealand, Social Infrastructure is almost exclusively provided by a central or local government (or related entities such as district health boards and universities). The development and provision of Social Infrastructure is well suited to PPPs, which have been used successfully to deliver public infrastructure since the early 1990s in the United Kingdom¹¹, and more recently in Australia.

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11 PFI, “Strengthening Long-term Partnerships”, page 12, available at http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/pfi _strengthening_long-term_partnerships.htm