The civil construction sector is urging the West Australian Government to use the post-boom lull in contractor prices and record low interest rates to stimulate new infrastructure projects at low cost.

The Civil Contractors Federation commissioned economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel to investigate the benefits of using debt to fund new projects.

Federation chief executive Jeff Miller said the Government should be taking advantage of the mining downturn to meet the state's growing infrastructure need.

"Right at the moment we need a lot of infrastructure for Perth and Western Australia for its projected population growth," he said.

"Now with contractor dollars stretching 30, even 50 per cent further and Great Depression rates of borrowing, it couldn't be a better time to address that deficit.

"It is actually a wise investment in the future and that's because infrastructure has such a long life, it can last 50 to 70 years.

"This is an opportunity if missed we'll probably look back on and wish we had done more."

Use debt to fund infrastructure: economist

BIS Shrapnel's senior economist and report author Adrian Hart said using debt to fund new infrastructure made the best economic sense.

"Financing productive new infrastructure through debt is not only fair on intergenerational equity grounds, but also provides the best economic bang for the buck compared to other financing methods," Mr Hart said.

"Debt is not the enemy to public finances, rather, it is the purpose of that debt which counts."

But he warned the Government against using it for other forms of spending.

"The risk for state and national budgets is not the debt which is funding the provision of productive infrastructure, but rather the debt which is funding recurrent expenditure across the economic cycle," he said.

"It is this area of public finances which needs urgent reform through a wholesale review of both revenue and expenditure policies."

He said the biggest challenge the Government faced was winning the public debate over the fear of debt.

"It's important we debunk once and for all the myth that all government debt is bad," he said.

"But before governments can convince the public that further debt funding of infrastructure is worthwhile, even desirable, first they have to demonstrate that projects are being selected according to a transparent cost-benefit process.

"The resources investment bust will continue to be a drag on the Western Australian economy for several years, yet it also presents an enormous opportunity for economic reform and investment in productive infrastructure.

"Debt levels for both the state and federal governments, while higher than they once were, are still very low compared to international peers and do not prohibit further borrowing for productive purposes."

Treasurer Mike Nahan was not available to comment on the report but will speak about the Government's infrastructure efforts and the challenges it faces at the report launch this morning.