We can sometimes be over critical about UK highways showing disappointment with our achievements even though we face the continuing challenge of reducing budgets and the rising prices of resources. Despite our failings, we are seen across the world as leaders in the highways sector. Be that in the use of innovative materials, or our approach to contracting arrangements.
Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been looking at the contracting arrangements in the UK on behalf of the Qatari government who want to learn more about the way we do things. A delegation from Qatar visited earlier this week to explore our maintenance regimes, as now the World Cup is over and all the new infrastructure built, they need to establish sound strategies to maintain it. They were particularly interested in how performance-based contracts operate which, as you know, are so well established here in the UK.
Whether you are engaged with a PFI, Teckal, DBFO or a more traditional TMC using NEC 4, all of these contract types focus on performance, with various incentivisation mechanisms and penalties to drive best value for the client. The Qatari delegation was impressed with how the UK highways market has developed over the years and will take on board the learning from the visit to establish their own asset management strategies.
We might only dream of owning a relatively new highway network without concerns around winter service etc, but Qatar does face similar issues with drifting sands, flooding, and of course incident management. So, the next time you feel like giving UK highways a little kick, remember how well we are doing through the eyes of others. Overall, it’s a testament to the hard work and innovation of the UK highways sector that it continues to lead the way in the industry on a global scale.