Spain, to the tail of the European Union in investment in engineering
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In the act have taken part Rafael Catalá Polo, secretary of State of Infrastructures, Transport and House; Carlos Espinosa of the Monteros, high commissioner of the Government for the Mark Spain; Cristina Cifuentes, delegate of the Government in the Community of Madrid; Pablo Cavero Martínez of Fields, adviser of Transports, Infrastructures and House of the Community of Madrid; Antonio Silván Rodríguez, adviser of Promotion and Environingingment of the Board of Castile and Leon; Liana Ardiles, general director of the Water, and Pedro D. Gómez González, president of Fidex.
Also have attended representatives of different administrations and companies of the sector of the engineering, construction and infrastructures.
In this first edition of the Days Fidex have presented two studies, of Mckinsey & Company and of Bricad Associates, that show the profitability of the investment in projects of engineering, and the need of Spain to increase said investment if it wants to be a country of reference in projects of infrastructure, keys for his economic growth.
During the first technical session, centred in the development of the infrastructures to global level, Maria Joao Ribeirinho, partner of McKinsey & Company and director of Infrastructures of the quality consultancy in Iberia, has presented the study ‘Infrastructure productivity: How to save $1 trillion to year', where pose a series of measures to attain an annual saving of around the trillion of dollars, what supposes 40% of the investment that estimate necessary to satisfy the world-wide needs in matter of infrastructures.
As it signals Maria Joao Ribeirinho, “the volume of investment in necessary infrastructures to sustain the projections of growth of the world-wide GDP until 2030 enciphers around 57 trillion dollars. This amount, upper to the value of the current world-wide stock, will have to be funded in a context of significant fiscal restrictions and of credit”, from here the importance to set up measures like which indicates the study, that go through a better selection of the performances; a better and greater control of all the process creator of the infrastructures, to avoid deviations in cost and in term regarding the forecasts; and a better analysis of the existent infrastructures to improve his aprovechamiento, already was by means of works of conservation and maintenance or by means of the research of new utilities for obsolete infrastructures or infrautilizadas.
These three blocks of measures have a common factor: a greater and better utilisation of the engineering in the phases of planning, project, execution and maintenance of the infrastructures. This greater and better utilisation of the services of engineering can have an additional cost from among 3% and 5% of the total of the investment, that, according to the study of McKinsey, can suppose to world-wide level a saving in the order of 40%, what supposes a net saving of 35%.
The study of McKinsey speaks also of the need to establish a clear separation of the areas of political and technical competition, where the decisions of technical character are taken by the technicians, inside the political and budgetary frame established by the politicians.
Thus, as it has signalled Pedro D. Gómez González, president of Fidex, requires an effort coordinated of each one of the parts involved in a project of infrastructures: the politician has to establish the frame of needs to cover and of budgetary availabilities, as well as the priorities of social or economic character, but from here has to leave work to the technicians so that they define the most adapted solution to each problem.
“The politician has to show amplitude of look and place in front the interests of the country and the future generations to the own interests more cortoplacistas, respecting the necessary terms so that the things do well, to his just and necessary price, without improvisations neither hastes caused by the political calendar. The public opinion of inside ten years will know to appreciate these political decisions, because the citizens do not want to see again wrapped in the consequences of an excessive indebtedness of the country, but yes want to have the infrastructures that need.”, it has declared Gómez González.
Maria Joao Ribeirinho, partner of McKinsey & Company and director of Infrastructures of the quality consultancy in Iberia.
In the second technical session, centred in the challenges that has to face so much Europe like Spain, the Dr. Peter Boswell, of Bricad Associates, has presented his study ‘FIDIC-EFCA Quality consultancy Engineering Industry Survey', that analyses and compares the figures of investment in engineering of the different countries of Europe, members or no of the European Community, regarding the global investment in infrastructures that have given in the last years, from data of the European observatory Eurostat.
Isolating the corresponding figures to infrastructures (civil work and edificación), the study reveals that the half investment European in engineering supposes 8,4% of his total investment in infrastructures. However, the investment of Spain hardly arrives to 4,5%, situating us to similar levels only to Portugal and Poland, and very underneath of the rest of the countries of Europe, included the ones of the east Europe.
This data would explain, therefore, the fact that Spain was the country of the EU in which more they proliferate the incidences or unforeseen during the execution of the works, giving place to the famous “modified of work” in a very upper percentage to the ones of any another developed country, with the extra cost that this supposes.
“The engineering of query is a key industry, responsible of the conception, design and implementation of the infrastructures and edificaciones that need to tackle the challenges of the humanity, as they are the climatic change and the efficiency of the investments. The engineering offers services in numerous important areas of the economic activity, that go from the construction, machinery and industrial team, until the investigation and development and the systems of defence.”, it has remembered Boswell.
By his part, Pedro D. Gómez González, president of Fidex, has resaltado during the closure of the Days that “is necessary to do see to the distinct actors involved in the creation of infrastructures that is indispensable to approximate to the rest of European countries regarding percentage of investment in engineering, since in Spain is desaprovechando the enormous capacity of return that has said investment”.
