No one remembers Santa Barbara until it thunders – that’s what the saying goes – and everyone remembers hydrological planning when there is a drought. Large construction companies calculate that the deficit in water infrastructure in Spain and Catalonia requires multiplying current investments by three until 2027.
According to the calculations offered this Monday by the Seopan construction companies association in its annual press conference, annual investments in infrastructure should go from 2,758 million euros currently to between 2,758 and 8,105 million euros in the State as a whole to reach the bidding objective for the period between 2022 and 2027, of 37,116 million euros.
“It is technically impossible to achieve it, unless the Government approves extraordinary measures,” said the president of the association, Julián Núñez. The problem, he assures, “affects the state, regional and local level”, and can cause sanctions from Brussels because part of the investments are committed to the European Commission.
The delay is due, according to Núñez, to the fact that Spain did not present a hydrological plan for the period 2009-2015. It was exempt from paying the community penalty because in 2016 it launched planning until 2021, but it has been carrying a deficit of 27,000 million due to the lack of initiative in the last decade. “The current third cycle includes many investments that were not executed in the previous plans,” he indicates.
Seopan does not break down the data for Catalonia, but estimates that in Spain as a whole, planning is pending investment of 3,180 million euros in supply and 1,368 million in desalination plants, two types of critical infrastructure for drought situations.
Large builders also have an opinion on the chronic nature of delays in budget execution in Catalonia, with the case of the Sagrera station as a great example. “When modifications arise in projects, they end up slowing down, but administrations can guarantee their execution if they approve a continuity order and force compliance with it, which does not happen.”
Seopan’s proposal consists of introducing a strict deadline to resolve modifications to a work. This would allow “resolving the problem of some works in Catalonia that are affected by this non-compliance,” he indicated.
The public works tender was around 28,000 million euros last year, a figure very similar to that of the previous year, according to the data offered by the construction companies. Of this amount, 31% corresponds to the State, which has increased its effort, in the face of the decline of city councils and autonomous communities.
However, bidding is one thing and effective contracting of work is another. This item was significantly below the tender volume, at 19,525 million euros, although it experienced an increase of 15% compared to 2022. For this year, a “drastic reduction” in public works tenders is expected at the conclusion, at less in this area, the recovery program launched with the pandemic.
Construction companies complain that the development model that requires the least direct public spending, concessions, is only marginally used in Spain. It is 3.4% of all tenders and only 1.9 companies participate in the contracts on average, compared to the 3 required. 20% of the tenders remain void due to the unattractive conditions, he says.
