What Is the Difference Between Infrastructure and Construction?
Across the globe, we see industrial, commercial, as well as residential projects of various sizes and importance coming up every day. In the design, development, and building process for these projects, we always hear terms like infrastructure and construction that might seem like one and the same. Understanding the difference between these two terms is simple. All we need to know is that construction is the action or activity while infrastructure is the action or activity.
Infrastructure deals with big-picture aspects of a project under which design, planning, construction, operation, finances, and other such processes are carried out. When we refer to infrastructure, we are usually referring to the final product which can be buildings, roadways, sports grounds, industrial establishments, technical facilities for electricity or internet, etc. The process of developing infrastructure involves a lot of stakeholders coming together from diverse fields including legal, finance, construction, and government, among others. The government is very commonly involved in infrastructure projects because they work towards the public as beneficiaries. In India, the majority of infrastructure projects are completed through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Construction, on the other hand, is one part of the process in infrastructure projects. It deals with all the steps dedicated towards the actual construction of the building, road, structure, or technical structure by using the materials to create the final infrastructure as per the design. Construction is a limited application within the specific field involving only the stakeholders of the construction industry. This part of the project is mostly carried out by civil contractors with construction businesses.
Even though these two statements of construction and infrastructure are related to one and the same process, different businesses might be involved in each process. For instance, Shapoorji Pallonji Infrastructure will take on a highway construction project that covers aspects like procurement, design, building, finances, SPV(special purpose vehicle), etc. Meanwhile, Shapoorji Pallonji Construction will take on the process of building the highway after all planning, finances, and legal formalities by a private or government civil contractor will include scheduling of construction, resource levelling, time-cost trade off, and laying structure, among others.
