The BRICS, alongside a majority of the global south nations have been expanding and developing by leaps & bounds. China in particular has been famously admired for their development in infrastructure. With the implementation of the New Development Bank, BRICS nations have allowed for an increased number of infrastructure projects to be taken on in emerging and developing countries. The main projects focus on the improvement of social infrastructure, addressing environmental issues alongside climate change, and promoting the increased application of technology throughout member countries. Whilst evidence does convey the wide variety of projects that are being planned and built, there is still much room for improvement in many different aspects, especially when compared to that of western nature. Especially surrounding concerns of digital infrastructure, it is somewhat harder to evolve abroad when there is inconsistent regulation and the worry of how data will be managed. This brings us to the debated question - can the BRICS progress pass the limited field of the global south and expand further?

When you look online for published projects, there is variety. The New Development Bank provides us with clear projects, aims, locations as well as the approximate (there is an emphasis here) cost of said projects. I take ‘Greener Shanghai’ as a good starting point, because it argues that the previous western-backed plans for a more environmentally friendly Shanghai may have fizzled out. The new proposed project, funded by the NDB, aims to essentially reattempt what the previous green plan was. With a budget of 100m USD equivalent, there is hope for the return of the clean city development strategy. New BRICS physical infrastructure projects are also bringing in more employment, and with the number of new projects being planned and implemented, there is a sense of labour stability.

Whilst it is a good thing that many similar projects are being implemented in BRICS regions, this means there starts the beginning of (another) dependent relationship with central banks and the NDB, rather than the west. Studies found that the average BRICS projects were found to almost always take longer to complete, which therefore exceeded the proposed budgets, conveying further reliance on borrowing from the NDB. This is where the ultimate problem resides. In the future, continued borrowing will not be sustainable to finance projects. With current geopolitical tensions between bigger powers - namely India and China, research clearly conveys tensions from this rivalry as well as the struggle to come back from Ukraine's invasion. Issues lying with the NDB means that it is likely future projects will either need to be much stricter with budgeting, or may simply become scarcer until confidence in acquiring funds returns. Having a weak foundation will mean that in comparison to western projects - many have been around for a while and are only subject to innovation - they will simply not last.

Although there is innovation and ambition to expand from western ties into the global south's own ‘independence’, there has been strain on growing digital infrastructure in particular. BRICS countries have been providing many digital job opportunities. According to Beletskaya’s article, the long-term unemployed, low-skilled and even young women are finding themselves with the chance at employment in this sector. However, lying back to faults within government policy, many platform workers are not actually protected by social security, and are unable to organise trade unions. Peering from the consumer side, why would people spontaneously decide to switch to using global south digital services in the modern day of monopolies? The same cluster of platform companies own almost all digital infrastructure, which means that the BRICS attempts to enter the market are that much more of a struggle. Data colonialism from the west has almost seemed to grasp the global south in a metaphorical chokehold - personal, government and firm data all coming from the Global South essentially belong to the west, with no economic benefit, according to Sesona Mdlokovana.

There are several long-term issues the BRICS are currently facing with infrastructure - reliance on increased borrowing from the NDB, geopolitical tensions between nations, and a lacking social welfare for new employees. When up against western infrastructure that seems to only need innovation now rather than invention, the global south is on a somewhat long and difficult journey to independent and sustainable development.