The GCC has achieved plenty in the development of both hard and soft infrastructure over the past three decades, in turn paving the way for high economic growth rates.

It has not been easy to meet the ever rising demand for infrastructure, which exceeded 10 per cent annually in some sectors such as electricity and water. Demand for utility has increased three times over the past three decades; even then the GCC was able to meet demand in an impressively flexible manner.

Given the continuous population growth, especially in regard to the expatriate workforce —where a total of 2.5 million workers joined the Gulf’s labour market last year — the GCC will face serious challenges related to how they can meet growing demand for basic infrastructure services, particularly in the fields of utility, housing, health and education services.

If GCC states were able to resolve these issues thanks to the giant projects of the past, the high demand for services in the coming years will considerably surpass the rates recorded in the past. More so at a time when energy-related topics and services have become more complicated due to high costs and the environmental consequences of increased production.

This is in addition to problems that may affect some economic indicators, such as deficit in non-oil trade. According to the Sunday Times, Gulf nations are suffering from a deficit in food valued at €40 billion, and this is likely to rise to €90 billion over the next five years.

As regards infrastructure services, there is some evidence recently which indicate the growing pressure on them. For example, for the first time one can see queues at petrol stations in all the GCC states as statistics show that there are 2,500 brand new cars hitting the streets every day (equivalent to 1 million cars each year), thus constituting a significant challenge.

The GCC is exerting immense efforts to accelerate the implementation of several strategic projects to relieve the growing pressure on infrastructure facilities, such as the metro project in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Riyadh, as well as the GCC railway network. Most of the GCC states have developed electricity generation programmes tapping nuclear power, with some of these projects already under construction. In the UAE, the first nuclear power stations are expected to become operational and begin producing electricity four years from now. This is in addition to solar energy projects.

The relationship between population growth and the setting up of infrastructure projects has converged in recent years; however, current indicators show a possibility for an imbalance in this. Hence there will be a gap in supply and demand for infrastructure services in the next few years.

It is expected the demand for services will be higher than the capacity of public utilities to meet, which would involve difficulties that need to be tackled by putting practical formulas to find solutions and avoid the possibility of aggravation. This must be done to maintain the quality of high-class services enjoyed by the Gulf’s populations at present.