The Next Generation European funds are beginning to arrive in Catalonia and have been linked to 14% of the public works projects tendered in the first semester: 156 works, with a total budget of 279 million euros, according to data presented today by the Chamber of Contractistes d'Obres de Catalunya (CCOC). European funds were practically absent in the first quarter and the Chamber was optimistic that they will have a significant impact in the coming ones.
In the first semester, the bidding for works in Catalonia has increased by 29% compared to the same period in 2021, to 1,967.6 million euros, also driven by the activity of local corporations, with projects that they want to have ready before the upcoming municipal elections next year, and for the project to bury the R2 train tracks in Montcada i Reixac.
According to Lluís Moreno, new president of the Chamber for a few weeks replacing Joaquim Llansó, in the second quarter, the public tender has reached 1,018 million euros, 7.2% higher than that of the first quarter
The local administration has been the most active in the semester: it has commissioned 49% of the projects, for a total of 963.4 million euros, 20% more than a year ago. The central administration accounts for 30.5% of the total tendered, with 599.5 million euros and an increase of 97% compared to last year due to the exceptional impact of the burial of the R2 in Montcada i Reixac. "A project of 384 million euros, which represents 64% of the State tender in Catalonia and represents about 20% of the total tender for the semester", recalled Moreno, who has made ADIF the body that has done the most work tendered in the semester.
The Generalitat, for its part, has tendered 20.5% of the total, worth 404.8 million and 3% less than last year. Its main project so far this year is the dynamic system of public fiber optic network deployment works by Infrastructures of the Generalitat: a contract worth 115 million euros and lasting 2 years.
The Chamber has highlighted the uncertainty in which the construction sector is moving, due to the problems of shortages and increases in the price of materials that began with the pandemic and has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine. This has led to the bidding for 107 works, for 27.7 million euros, being added to the 302 from last year. The Chamber recalled that, according to government data, materials such as steel have increased their price by 60% in one year.
“Some projects that were prepared before the pandemic and when they went out to tender were abandoned, have been put out to tender again, with price increases of 20% as provided for by regulations, and have been abandoned again,” said the president of the CCOC. "Projects that include a lot of iron, or copper or aluminum are now 30% or 40% more expensive than two years ago," he assured, forcing contractors to adjust their margins. “What a company cannot do is not present itself to projects, because it has to work”.
The president of the CCOC asked the public administrations to update the specifications of the tenders that they have been preparing for some time based on the costs published by the government or organizations such as Itec. "With the Next Generation funds, which have tight schedules, if a tender is unsuccessful, it could lose the right to receive European aid," he warned.
Moreno has warned that the administrations are resorting to bidding through framework agreements and dynamic contracting systems, which mean that only part of the amount is executed this year, and that it may not even be executed. These new systems account for 15% of the six-monthly tender (300.1 million euros), with a significant weight of contracts from Barcelona Serveis Municipals and the Consorci Català per al Desenvolupament Local. Moreno announced that the Chamber will ask the administrations involved to establish monitoring systems for the actual execution of these contracts.
