The key infrastructures for the next decade in Catalonia

BarcelonaCatalonia must invest 52.838 billion euros in infrastructure over the next ten years to cover the country's priority needs. The estimate, prepared by Spanish construction and concession companies (grouped under the umbrella of the Seopan business association) and Catalan contractors (the Chamber of Construction Contractors of Catalonia, CCOC), includes both new construction and actions to resolve current maintenance deficits. They believe that 34.443 billion should be allocated to creating facilities—65% of the total required—and the remaining almost 18.4 billion to maintenance.

"These are infrastructures that Catalonia needs and that we cannot postpone indefinitely," insisted the president of the CCOC, Lluís Moreno, once again. On the eve of the November 29th election campaign, the sector believes that more than half of the required resources must go to the transport sector. Specifically, more than 4 out of every 10 euros of the total—practically 22 billion euros—must be allocated to new structures. As expected, rail transport accounts for the bulk of the allocation: 13.887 billion. This includes duties on Rodalies, the metro, and trams.

In this area, for the umpteenth time, the economic world is demanding rail access to the port of Barcelona and the Orbital Line, which proposes to connect cities in the second metropolitan ring, from Mataró to Vilanova i la Geltrú, without passing through Barcelona. They are also in favor of expanding metro lines and connecting Baix Llobregat with Barcelona via the R9 line. In contrast, regarding road transport, out of 2.883 billion, 266 million stand out for the creation of third lanes on the AP-7. More than 1.5 billion should be distributed between the A-2, A-7, C-12, and C-32.

Regarding the conservation of the transport network, contractors are demanding 1.8 billion to renovate the high-speed line between Madrid and Barcelona, in a context of increasing delays and incidents. Likewise, they believe that about 4.5 billion should be used to maintain roads, although they consider that "Catalonia has a good level of coverage of the technical threshold for conservation" of these infrastructures.

Emphasis on hydraulic infrastructure

Although it seems that the drought is far away, Seopan and the CCOC also place the emphasis on hydraulic infrastructure: Catalonia must allocate more than 21.5 billion to it, 40% of the total. In this case, they are in favor of investing more in maintaining what already exists than in building anew.

The two entities propose allocating 12.043 billion to irrigation, coastal conservation, and the adaptation of existing dams. Of the 9.53 billion for new construction, they believe the bulk should go to improving the urban water cycle (sanitation, purification, supply, and water treatment).

The law, one more obstacle

Beyond the numbers, industry experts warn that public procurement legislation must be urgently adapted to be able to execute this volume of projects. "Regulation is like software," illustrated Seopan president Julián Núñez. "If the hardware is the best in the world, but the software is 60 years old, the system fails," he warned.

This is a common complaint from contractors. They estimate that the volume of tenders for public works concessions in Catalonia has fallen by 96% since 2015. Moreno criticized in mid-July that the budgets prepared by the administrations "do not reflect real prices". Beyond the tenders, according to a study by Foment del Treball the Spanish government has executed 57.4% of the investment promised to Catalonia between 2009 and 2025, and the Generalitat 89.6%.