Not really. Those activities are externalised to the best bidder. Cost are high because private companies can't make it for less work _and_ because safety stand

Not really. Those activities are externalised to the best bidder. Cost are high because private companies can't make it for less work _and_ because safety standards are quite high in the West (and even then you get some bridges collapsing and killing people here and there). If you want it "cheap" then you need to apply second world standards and accept people getting regularly killed under crumbling infrastructure. Yes, yes. I know about the money that is "lost" in bribes, etc. but that's not because the administrative state is inefficient but because politicians are greedy. In fact, one reason for externalising so much to private companies is to make it easier to get bribes or nice posts after finishing public office.