Corruption means 10% loss in world infrastructure investment

FIDIC, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, has developed a new tool, the Integrity Management System, or “FIMS,” specifically for the consulting engineering industry to identify and deal with the risk of corruption and bribery.

At the annual meeting of FIDIC in Davos, Switzerland in October, Geoff French the president of the association said: “Corruption presents one of the most debilitating challenges to economic growth and stability world-wide.”

The FIDIC newsletter expanded on the topic in its December newsletter: “Consulting engineers, who deliver a significant portion of world infrastructure, acknowledge the frustrations of working in environments which have a high risk of exposure to bribery and corruption. Official estimates put the annual loss of investment in construction at some $600 billion, or 10 per cent of the total annual investment in infrastructure.”

Besides FIDIC’s FIMS, organizations such as the World Bank and Transparency International have generic guidelines to combat corruption in business.