Performance diverges widely among different countries. The Brazil fund was up 23% for the year ending March 31, making it one of the leading infrastructure plays over the period, compared to 7.5% for the China offering.

Global
With yawning budget deficits leaving little money for public projects, returns have been subdued for the two diversified global infrastructure ETFs that focus mainly on developed markets. But improving economies are sparking hope that the U.S. and other countries will finally make serious attempts to address their infrastructure needs, which could be one reason these ETFs have seen an uptick in performance since the beginning of the year.

The iShares S&P Global Infrastructure ETF (IGF) has 39.1% of its $524 million in assets in utilities, 40.5% in industrials and 20% in energy. Its much smaller competitor, the SPDR FTSE/Macquarie Global Infrastructure ETF, has over three-quarters of its exposure in electric and other utilities.

The latter fund has 41% of its assets in the U.S., with the rest spread broadly among Europe and Japan and a smattering of emerging markets. The iShares fund has only 23% in the U.S., while another 10% is in Canada and the remainder mostly in developed market countries.

Two options offer targeted exposure to capital expenditure and construction in developed markets. The First Trust ISE Global Engineering and Construction fund (FLM), focuses mainly on companies involved in large public works projects. It has 21% of its assets in the U.S. and 15% in Japan and typically has a 10% to 15% allocation to merging market companies. PowerShares Dynamic Building and Construction (PKB) follows 30 U.S. companies in construction and related industries.

Infrastructure-Related Sectors
A good argument could be made that lumping together a group of seemingly disparate companies under an infrastructure banner is more of a marketing move than logical portfolio construction. Those who agree can opt for more focused ways to stake out the theme on a sector-by-sector basis. Since many of these ETFs have been around longer than the more diversified infrastructure offerings, they also have longer track records.

Utilities. A concentrated ETF whose top ten holdings account for more than half its assets, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) follows 34 U.S. companies that produce, generate, transmit or distribute electricity or natural gas.

At $4.2 billion in assets, it is the largest ETF that could be considered an infrastructure play. But it's also a utility holding, which means it will probably drag along in strong bull markets. Still, its returns have edged out the S&P 500 index over the last ten years, and utilities can be a good income generator with a growth kick at a time when bond yields are still near historic lows. The ETF's dividend yield was recently around 4.5%.

Materials. Companies involved in producing material and chemicals for construction projects offer indirect exposure to infrastructure growth in emerging and developed markets. They're also good inflation hedges, since they tend to move with commodity prices.

With a $3.0 billion market cap, the Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB) dominates this group. The index it is based on is primarily composed of companies in industries such as chemicals, construction and forest products. Its largest components include classic U.S. materials companies such as Monsanto, Dow Chemical, Freeport-McMoRan and DuPont. The concentrated portfolio of 30 stocks has 68% of its assets in the top ten holdings.