A former civil servant whose background was in policing and security was recently "elected" chief executive of a special administrative region in Asia. One of his first tasks is to make a decision regarding the economic feasibility of a major, high-cost infrastructure project that is projected to provide benefits to the residents of the region for at least the next 40 years. The chief executive (hypothetically for the purpose of this question) has had no training in economics or finance. Your task is to (a) explain the concept of discounting future benefits and costs associated with the project and why such discounting is necessary (b) why the choice of the discount rate is critical and (c) why it may be reasonable to use a discount rate below the current interest rate paid by issuers of private debt. Keep in mind that the chief executive has not had any background in economics or finance so keep your explanation simple and to the point and avoid jargon.