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Development Is Not A Synonym For Infrastructure

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Development is not a synonym for infrastructure. Yet, these two words are often used in interchangeably. Halifax, a small city in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada is currently taking on the project of building a new convention center to replace the old and derelict convention center. This project has been widely accepted and praised by many local government officials and business people as a tremendous step forward and a driver for the city’s growth. While this project can be defined as new infrastructure, this alone does not justify its denotement as a development. What allows infrastructure to also be defined as development is its ability to create positive change, or put more simply: improvement. Likewise, undevelopment will be …show more content…

“Convention centers are generally not expected to make a profit on their operations or cover their construction costs” . As a result, the vast majority of projects are covered by government funding with the hope that the economic benefits for the city will justify this subsidy. These new or refurbished convention centers are expected to bring in more foreign visitors, increasing tourism and bringing in foreign capital. While this can be true, examples of success stories lie in cities where tourism is already prevalent and lends themselves to larger cities far more than smaller ones . Similarly, projections are made under the assumption that all conference and event attendees will be visitors. Project revenue received from local hotels, restaurants, and stores is determined under this premise. This assumption is largely exaggerated, as studies have shown that the number of hotel rooms estimated to be used during a given year was one third of the initial projections. This is because locals make up a large portion of conference attendees . As a result, most spending is from local residents rather than visitors, completely negating the purpose of building a center to bring in external revenue. It is apparent that since attendees are primarily local residents, there is no increase in sales revenue at neighboring businesses. Moreover, this particular project has proven to not only be unbeneficial for surrounding restaurants and retailers,

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