An Updated Look at BC’s Inventory of Major Capital Projects

In this issue of Policy Perspectives, we provide a summary of capital spending on “major” projects in British Columbia.

Highlights

• The value of all “major” capital projects that are planned or underway in BC sits at a whopping $344 billion.
• The total inventory of projects has increased sharply, mainly due to a large number of LNG proposals.
• Without LNG, the value of proposed capital projects is still up by more than 20% over the past few years.
• The value of all major projects currently underway in BC stands at $83 billion, up from $63 billion in 2011.
• Among non-residential segments, the power and mining sectors stand out as having the largest inventories of proposed projects in the Major Projects database.
• BC Hydro’s capital program is the largest source of current investment spending, outside of the residential sector.
• The data suggest that investment in the province’s manufacturing sector will be muted.
• Investment spending for port-related infrastructure continues to be an economic driver.