The Chairman of Moventia, Josep Maria Martí, took part in the event entitled ‘Gran Encuentro Expansión Catalunya: Towards Sustainable Growth’ that was held at the iconic modernist Sant Pau venue in Barcelona. Organised by the Expansión financial newspaper, the event gathered major leaders from institutions and businesses in Catalonia to discuss the challenges and future opportunities for the region’s productive fabric.
Josep Maria Martí spoke at a round table discussion entitled ‘Keys for Boosting the Strength and Competitiveness of our Business Fabric’ alongside representatives from such leading companies as Port de Barcelona, Mango, AGBAR and the Consorci de la Zona Franca. The session was moderated by José Orihuel, the representative for Expansión in Catalonia.
Josep Maria brought one issue of key importance for the transport sector to the table: the urgent need for an in-depth review of the existing public procurement model. “The system needs a complete overhaul, from top to bottom, across the board”, he said, warning about the negative impacts that the existing model has on quality of service, innovation and sustainability.
Josep Maria criticised the fact that “a priority is currently being placed on financial criteria rather than technical and quality-related criteria, which steers companies towards slashing their margins to almost nothing, if not generating a loss”. He explained that this situation leads to reduced stability in the sector and seriously restricts its transformative capability.
“The consequences from the existing system lead to reduced remunerations, thereby compromising quality of service, reducing investment in innovation and sustainability. In other words, the existing model is destabilising our sector”, he said to an audience that included leaders from such strategic companies as Aena, Vueling, Caixabank, Endesa, Telefónica, Santander, BBVA, Banco Sabadell and Naturgy, among many others.
The Chairman of Moventia also highlighted a lack of flexibility in public contracts and the impact caused by the Spanish Law on De-indexing the Economy, two factors that pose obstacles to planning and amortising long-term investments. “When adding the fact that procurement law offers very little flexibility, it means that companies are unable to adapt to requirements or only do so in a very limited fashion. We can imagine but, sadly, not predict the future”, he said.
In this regard, the group’s leading executive defended the need to shift towards a procurement model that values such key issues as environmental sustainability, digitalisation, operational efficiency and quality of service, and that offers guarantees so the necessary investments can be undertaken with security and continuity.
The event was also attended by leading representatives from institutions, such as Jaume Collboni, Mayor of Barcelona, who opened the event, and Salvador Illa, President of the Regional Government of Catalonia, who closed the event.