The South African government has been ranked thirty-fifth out of this year’s top 500 global infrastructure owners, with its infrastructure valued at $80.584-billion, as measured by reported net tangible fixed assets.

This is according to global software developer Bentley System’s Infrastructure 500 list, which ranks the top owners of infrastructure worldwide from both the public and private sectors. Published yearly, this list makes it possible to readily compare investment levels across different types of infrastructure, regions of the world, and public and private organisations, providing industry stakeholders with an understanding of the dollar value of assets owned by some of the world’s top owner-operators.

“This list is a function of how assets are owned in any given geography and, often, governments are among the largest asset owners,” Bentley COO Malcolm Walter told Engineering News on the sidelines of the company’s 2014 Year in Infrastructure Conference.

He explained that Bentley aggregated the assets South Africa owned on a national level, which are considered government assets.

What this means for Bentley is that the South African government is a large infrastructure asset owner and, therefore, it should have an interest in certain solutions that operate those assets as effectively as possible, said Walter.

“Therefore, the South African government is [an enterprise] that Bentley ought to be talking to. Eighty-billion dollars is a lot of money to be managing and our goal is to ensure that assets are operated and maintained efficiently and effectively for the longest time possible. And if you’re talking about [an enterprise] with [infrastructure valued at] $80-billion, then they should be interested in having that conversation [with us].”

Bentley Systems compiles the Bentley Infrastructure 500 to help global constituents appreciate and explore the magnitude of investment in infrastructure and the potential to continually increase constituents’ return on that investment.

The combined value of the 500 listed companies exceeded $16.7-trillion, which was close to the US’s 2013 gross domestic product (GDP) and more than the combined 2013 GDPs of China, Japan and the UK.

The US government topped the list, with an infrastructure value of $360.9-billion, followed by the world’s biggest natural gas producer, Russian open joint stock company Gazprom, and US-based global oil giant Exxon Mobil Corporation, with infrastructure assets valued at $248.4-billion and $243.65-billion, respectively.

The Top 500 list includes public- and private-sector entities with financials reported in the past three years to allow for flexibility in varying reporting schedules. The values presented were assessed net of depreciation and amortisation and calculated to exclude, where data was available, assets not representative of infrastructure, such as equipment, furniture and software.

Bentley Systems provides comprehensive software solutions for sustainable infrastructure for architects, engineers, geospatial professionals and owner-operators worldwide.

Samantha Moolman was a guest of Bentley Systems at the 2014 Year in Infrastructure Conference in London, UK.