U.S. President Donald Trump asked Congress on Tuesday to pass an infrastructure package that would ultimately be worth US$1.5 trillion, increasing the amount of investment in infrastructure.

“I am calling on the Congress to produce a bill that generates at least 1.5 trillion [U.S. dollars] for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs,” Trump said in his first State of the Union address before lawmakers.

He touted the idea of using federal government funds as incentives to stimulate state and local government funds as well as private capital in infrastructure investment.

In order to stimulate more investment in infrastructure, Trump also called on lawmakers to streamline the permitting and approval process for infrastructure investment.

“We built the Empire State Building in just one year. Isn’t it a disgrace that it can now take 10 years just to get a permit approved for a simple road?” Trump said in his speech.

He called on the Congress to shorten the permitting process to “no more than two years.”

According to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the median time to complete the environmental review of a complex highway project is at least seven years.

A statement released by the White House on Tuesday said the administration will also enhance its support for infrastructure projects in rural areas.

Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution, told Xinhua that infrastructure might be the only possibility for bipartisanship.

“That may be an area where the parties could come together because each side understands the need to rebuild bridges, highways and dams,” West said.

Trump had called for a US$1 trillion investment in infrastructure during his speech to a joint session of Congress last year.

In the spring of 2017, the administration proposed spending US$200 billion to spur investments of US$800 billion in private capital over the next 10 years.(Xinhua)