" is entirely orthogonal "

I think it is somewhat separate from the style of government, but not entirely orthogonal. It is obviously easier to build infrastructure and to keep building it for decades and decades, if you can disregard much of the popular backlash.

The golden age of Western infrastructure building ended with people electing all sorts of NIMBY or Green-adjacent politicians who imposed a lot of bureaucratic rules on further development.

Such a thing is basically impossible either in China or in places like Saudi Arabia (cough NEOM, cough). There, you can either try to "petition the court" somehow (only works for certain people and their interests), or, in much more risky way, try to cause some unrest and hope that the authorities will back down instead of responding by crushing you.

It was similar in late stage Communist Eastern Bloc; and the comrades were rightly afraid, because the eco-movement played some role in bringing down the system.