This quarter BMI has introduced a new data series for infrastructure and its subsectors (transport and energy & utilities). This is an effort to address a significant deficiency in the availability of globally comparable, infrastructure-specific indicators and forecasts across a wide range of countries. BMI's new infrastructure data series enables users to quantify trends and growth patterns in the infrastructure sectors of the 35 main emerging and developed markets out of the 62 countries in BMI's infrastructure service.

The Czech Republic has performed well compared with some of its neighbours but still faces difficulties within its infrastructure sector. The report estimates that the infrastructure sector value will be US$11.66bn in 2009 – a fall from the previous year’s value of US$12.26bn. Despite this fall in value it represents an overall increase in construction industry value as a percentage of GDP to 5.74%. The infrastructure sector value as a percentage of total construction industry remains constant at 20.6%. This value is below that of its peers in Central Europe, where the infrastructure sector accounts for between 30% and 40% of total construction on average.

The report forecasts that the Czech construction industry will return to growth from 2010 onwards growing to US$16.24bn by 2014. The infrastructure sector as a percentage of total industry value is also expected to rise but only by a nominal amount, accounting for 20.22% by 2014.

At present infrastructure development is almost entirely dominated by projects in the energy sector. What is more it is mainly one operator – state owned utility CEZ Energy – that is responsible for these projects.

CEZ has plans to construct two new nuclear plants at its existing Temelín site. The company also signed and EPC agreement to construct the first steam-gas power plant in the Czech Republic, in northern Bohemia.

While a number of projects are fairly ambitious there is still a lack of real private investment. The interim government also presents problems for infrastructure, with many projects such as the privatisation of Prague’s Ruzyne Airport cancelled or delayed awaiting a clear direction from the administration.

The Czech Republic scored excellently for its Business Environment, moving to top place in its region with a score of 66.6. This score was a result of good scores across the board, but was particularly helped by a high rating of 81.1 for country structure. The country also scored well for project finance with an overall score of 59.3, placing it fifth in the region. As mentioned, the country’s strong power sector helped to bolster the score. However, a poor rating for transport infrastructure in the commissioning and operating phase detracted from the overall ranking.