The problem of lack of investment in Catalan infrastructure is far from improving, but is getting worse. According to Job promotion, in the last twelve years, the public administration has accumulated 35,000 million euros in money allocated but not executed, a figure that is also 7,000 million euros higher than the last time this analysis was done, just before the pandemic. By then, the employers of the large company had already made it clear that the investment deficit in infrastructure in Catalonia had risen to 28,000 million euros by 2018 and that resolving this situation required both an extraordinary injection of 10,000 million euros by the Government and the Generalitat. has, since an annual investment of 5 000 million euros.
Two years later, the president of Foment, Josep Sánchez Llibre insisted on this recipe, especially considering that the trend has worsened. The entity’s calculations, based on infrastructure investment in the 12 richest countries in the eurozone, indicate that the equivalent of 2.2% of Catalan GDP (about 225 000 million euros with data from 2020), while the amounts spoken for years did not even exceed 1%. Without going any further, the tender remained at 0.7% of GDP in 2020.
“These are data that show that the shortage in infrastructure is increasing scandalously year after year,” Sánchez Llibre summed up according to Efe in the presentation of the report. “We are sending a message of vigilance and concern,” he said.
The report where this shortfall is proven also points out that there are investments that are not even made within the major works. “The most strategic infrastructure for the competitiveness of the Catalan economy and thus of the Spanish economy is progressing at a very slow pace, and in some cases the works are lame”, collects the document, citing as examples the connection between the A- 2 and the AP-7 at the height of Castellbisbal inaugurated last autumn after 14 years of work and awarded 12 million euros less than those promised or known as fourth belt of Barcelona (the B-40 orbital highway), which has been in the State’s general budgets (PGE) and is still under construction, just like the new road access to the port of Barcelona o la connection between the A-2 and the C-32.
In this regard, Sánchez Llibre, accompanied by the entity’s Vice President, Joaquim Llansó, and the President of the Infrastructure Commission, Anna Cornadó, called for “rigor, seriousness and responsibility” of the various public administrations.
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Although Foment blames both administrations – the Spanish and the Catalan – its data collection reflects that the compliance rate is worse in the case of the state. Between 2013 and 2020, they say, the implementation of the state budget in Catalonia was 67% (a deficit of 3,000 million euros), while the same percentage improved ten points in the case of the Generalitat, to 77% (2,200 million) ).
On top of all that, employers condemn that the problem will continue in 2022, especially given that the figures budgeted for the future are again under the weight that Catalonia has within the Spanish economy. In other words, with the community contributing 19% of the State’s GDP, the budgeted allocation for investments in this area is 17% of the total and in all probability (and based on the precedent set by Foment this Monday has), the figure will remain below. Catalonia is in any case the second community to be promised more money, just behind Andalusia.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com