PM Network - August 2014

development that provides a walkable environment,” says Rick Gustafson, former executive director
and current consultant to Portland Streetcar Inc., which was awarded the contract in 1995 to build
the initial 2. 4 miles ( 3.9 kilometers) of rail at a capital cost of US$57 mil-
lion. The project broke ground in 1999 and was completed in 2001. Port-
land Streetcar Inc. has since expanded the system to stretch 14. 7 miles
( 23. 7 kilometers) along two lines, and construction on more extensions is
underway.

“Mobility advocates tend to dismiss the streetcar as irrelevant,” Mr.
Gustafson says, referring to transportation experts who prefer to improve
existing bus routes than invest in rail projects. “They make mobility a
means in and of itself and are almost always the last ones to get on board
with the streetcar.”
Mr. Gustafson says the streetcar is a repopulating tactic that expands
the walkable urban environment. By 2008, seven years after Portland’s
streetcar service began, the city saw US$3.5 billion of development occur
within two blocks of streetcar routes.

“The biggest challenge to streetcars is for all of the stakeholders to
accept a whole new vision,” Mr. Gustafson says. “Growth in our country is expected to be around
the demand for walkable urban neighborhoods.” —Ambreen Ali

CHINA’S WATER WOES

Mao Zedong gave Chinese planners a big idea in 1952 when he said: “Water in the south is abundant, water in the north scarce. If possible, it would be fine to borrow a little.” More than 60 years later, the “borrowing” has begun, thanks to the largest water transfer plan in the world: the Chinese government’s South-North Water Diversion Project (SNWDP).

In late 2013, water from the Yangtze River—which stretches eastward across southern China, emptying into the East China Sea—began flowing north in Jiangsu province through man-made canals leading to drier cities in Shandong province. Part of the eastern route of the SNWDP, the trickle of water began what will eventually be a flood of water moving north across China: 45 billion cubic meters ( 11.9 trillion gallons) of water flowing each year via 2,700 miles ( 4,345 kilometers) of canals, pipelines, aqueducts and pumping stations from China’s hydrologically blessed south to booming but water-strapped cities in the north. With an official budget of US$62 billion, the 50-year project could end up one of the most expensive civil engineering initiatives in history.

The massive plan comprises three distinct north-south diversion projects (the eastern, central and western routes) crossing four west-to-east flowing rivers: the Yangtze, Huai, Yellow and Hai. It’s all part of China’s ongoing push to engineer around a growing water crisis without interrupting economic development. “We’ve resolved a lot of issues and done a lot of research. The negative impacts are so small they almost don’t exist,” Shen Fengsheng, head project engineer, told Quartz.

IT GROWING PAINS

Cutting costs and maximiz-
ing efficiencies are no longer
enough. For many executives,
the goal of IT projects is deliver-
ing strategic value that enables
innovation and productivity. Yet
many business leaders aren’t
satisfied with their company’s IT
performance and talent.
Executives plan to increase
the portion of IT devoted to
analytics and innovation by
nearly 50 percent in the com-
ing years…
n 2013 analytics and
innovation spending:
22 percent
n Projected 2016 analytics
and innovation spending:
32 percent