Given the ideological currents of the time, that discussion was strongly shaped by an emerging development narrative focused on overcoming “market failures”, seen as endemic in infrastructure provision, and requiring government involvement through public utilities (power, telecommunications, water, etc.), Infrastructure was again the focus of attention, but from an opposing perspective, in the 1980s, as talk of “government failures” accompanied the sharp neoliberal policy turn. At that time, privatization became the instrument of choice to boost efficiency, along with measures to enhance private participation in infrastructure provision by making it more profitable. This included - in a sense coming full circle - tying infrastructure to the right business environment to enable participation in global value chains. The 2030 Agenda has once again broadened the debate with a more ambitious infrastructure agenda. Answering this requires unpacking the term “infrastructure” to consider the requirements, implications and consequences of different types of infrastructure creation.