The executing arm of the Generalitat's major works, Infraestructures.cat, has been burdened with a lot of work. 10 years after its creation, the public company, which depends on the Department of Economy, has a wide portfolio of urban planning and equipment projects to tender and award. This year, in addition, projects boosted by Next Generation European funds, which must be completed in 2024, will be added.
All of this will alter the 2023 budget, which will be expansive "in line with the 650 million euros of 2022" because the Generalitat has had more resources, and close to 500 million euros from Europe will be added, acknowledges the president of Infraestructures.cat, Miquel Buch, highlighting that current resources are 50% more than in 2017. Therefore, "we come from a very intense 2022 with more than 300 bids ---double that of 2021 with 150 tenders and a budget of 450 million--- and more than 400 works underway.
"This demonstrates the significant and sustained growth of these first ten years, which began in the midst of the 2012 economic crisis, with a budget of 50 million, up to the current 650 million, 13 times more," explains Buch. There will also be a change in the workforce, "to cope with the volume of projects," with the incorporation of 90 professionals into the staff, which will increase from 180 to 270 people.
Infraestructures.cat has worked on projects for the territory with the duplication of the C-31 orline L9,among some of the most outstanding works. It has also built the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC) station in Gràcia. On the other hand, it has reinforced the healthcare sector with the expansion of Bellvitge Hospital and the construction of theVall d'Hebron surgical block. For the next two years, on the one hand, it will continue with metro line L9 and will tender the new FGC L8 line that will connect Plaza España with Plaza Lesseps. On the other hand, in the healthcare field, it will be carried outthe expansion of the Juan XXIII hospital in Tarragona and that of the Verge de la Cinta center in Tortosa,and the outpatient building for the comprehensive reform being carried out at Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona will be built. They also plan to build the Zona Franca penitentiary center and a judicial building in Martorell, among other works, because there will also be educational facilities and others that will undergo improvement and maintenance works.
The public company will begin a reflection process on what "the works of the future" should be likeThe tenth anniversary of Infraestructures coincides with a paradigm shift in public tenders, "in which criteria other than purely economic and technical ones weigh more", and will start with an event on Wednesday, September 21, at the Palau de Pedralbes that will bring together former regional ministers Joaquim Nadal and Josep Rull in a colloquium. The entity will also set upan exhibition of photographs at the Palau Robert from the decade that is left behindand has planned a series of colloquiums every month and a half with the College of Architects and the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports to discuss how future works should be, especially taking into account the climate emergency. Along these lines, but internally,the company has installed 185 photovoltaic panels across the entire available surface of the roof of its offices in Barcelona, with the aim of optimizing self-consumption and energy management of the corporate headquarters. The installation has been designed to maximize energy efficiency and allows integration with all assets to enable intelligent management of energy flow, intended for self-consumption and to channel possible surpluses.
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