Ara in English - public work

Who watches the builders?

Antoni Bassas — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 10:10:39 +0000

These you will now see are the images of the crane collapse in Vallbona, Barcelona, in the works to bury the Rodalies line of Montcada i Reixac that Adif is carrying out there. It happened on Wednesday. An enormous crane was swallowed by a sinkhole when the wall of a shaft that was to connect with the railway tunnel being built there gave way. This is the moment when the earth swallows the crane and here you have the image of the landslide it caused. We were lucky, because minutes before, there were workers in this hole, meaning we could now be talking about a tragedy. Consider that the hole that ended up being made was 17 meters deep and 19 meters in diameter. The crane was worth half a million euros. I say it was worth it because we will never see it again. They are injecting concrete into the hole to stabilize the ground with the crane inside, because if they had wanted to remove it, it would have taken them weeks to stabilize the area and be able to continue the works. Adif assures that there have been no movements in the houses, the tracks, or any other point of the works.The sinkhole has caused the usual closure of Rodalies, on three lines, at least until next week, the day is unknown. Today we explain that, according to the councilor of the Nou Barris district, Xavier Marcé, the Vallbona collapse could have been caused by the groundwater of the Rec Comtal, which passes through there and which would have contributed to a landslip. In fact, some media outlets explain that the passage of the Rec Comtal was obviously reflected in the project of the work, and that the neighbors also knew about it.And here comes the question: if the geologists knew it, and it must have been in the construction documents, if the neighbors saw it, why didn't the construction companies take it sufficiently into account? The hydrology of the terrain is part of the project for any action. As if the incident in the Adif works were not bad enough, it turns out that it happened on the same day that a gas leak in Plaça de Sants in Barcelona, where the Generalitat's Department of Territory was carrying out metro works, caused a flare-up that firefighters took hours to extinguish. Here too, they are investigating the origin of the leak and what caused the flare-up. And finally, the Department of Territory is also responsible for the L9 metro works that forced the evacuation of a series of houses in the Putxet neighborhood of Barcelona, about three weeks ago.This morning I asked a public works expert what had happened with this concentration of serious incidents in public works and he told me that he wanted to think it was a trick of Divine Providence, but that the guard on the work done by construction companies could not be lowered. And it is better that they do not lower it, because right now Catalonia has a considerable volume of public works underway and the last thing we need is a state of psychosis.Good morning.

Construction companies tainted by corruption: Is it possible to ban them from public tenders?

Núria Rius — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 15:00:19 +0000

Remove from public works those construction companies that have been implicated in corruption, whether through bribery, bid rigging, or other malpractices. Alleged kickbacks surrounding the last two PSOE organizational secretaries, José Luis Ábalos and Santos Cerdán, and the former advisor to the former, Koldo García. If Pedro Sánchez takes up the challenge of these proposals—it is expected that this Wednesday, coinciding with the plenary session in the Congress of Deputies, the Spanish president will announce measures to combat corruption—it is necessary to keep in mind that Spain is not starting from scratch regarding the possibility of applying this veto to certain companies when accessing public contracts. Inspired by European directives, it already includes this penalty. In fact, the European Commission is examining its directives and is expected to release its analysis and, therefore, possible modifications in the last quarter of the year. The Spanish government is also seeking to strengthen its capacity to carry out its work ... The Spanish government is also seeking to strengthen its capacity to carry out its work. For example, if a company has been sanctioned for misrepresentation of competition, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) intervenes. Since 2023, it can set the duration and scope of the ban based on criteria related to competition between companies, and "the aim is to increase security." This is the body responsible for ensuring the defense of competition in the State.

A construction companies' cartel to share out public works

Editorial — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 09:52:29 +0000

The National Commission for Markets and Competition (CNMC) has sanctioned on Friday twelve companies with a total of 61.3 million euros, among which there are subsidiaries of the construction companies of Acciona, ACS, OHL, Ferrovial, FCC, Elecnor, Copcisa and Sacyr, for an infringement constituting a cartel to divide the tenders called by the Ministry of Development between 2014 and 2018 to fix roads. In addition, Competition prohibits them from contracting with the public administration for an indefinite period of time. Although it is not the first time that fines of this style are placed (in 2019 a similar fine was placed on a cartel that monopolised Adif's tenders), this decision is especially significant because it reveals a way of proceeding that completely alters the rules of competition and that has condemned dozens of companies that acted legally and saw how, time and again, they were left out of public tenders.