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“It is unfeasible to rehabilitate the Cervantes Theater with the prices that exist”. So he considered it without hesitation twice. President of the Provincial Association of Construction Industries of Segovia (APIC), Javier Carretero. “It is guaranteed that whoever starts that work right now will not be able to finish it”sentenced.
On May 23, work began on the rehabilitation of the old Cervantes Theater. And although the Mayor of Segovia and Councilor for Urban Planning and Historical Heritage, Clara Martínexpressed confidence that the new building could be available to the city in 2026, the president of the builders does not think so.
“Who is capable of maintaining a work with a 40 percent drop compared to the bidding budget and a 70 percent price increase? It is unfeasible”Carter insisted. The alert for the increase in the cost of raw materials in construction -to which is added the lack of supplies- is nothing new, but it is a circumstance that has been lived with for more than a year.
Iron, glass, wood… All the materials have experienced a big rise in price. “It is said that they have risen between 20 and 30 percent, but some things have exceeded the 300 percent increase”, he remarked. Thus, she exemplified herself with the bricks. “A simple brick was worth eight cents a year ago. Now he’s over 40.”, he detailed. The explanation given to this fact is easy: the bricks are made of mud, but for their manufacture they need gas and electricity, whose prices are “In the clouds”.
There are many consequences that can result from this rebound. One of them, according to Carretero, is the stoppage or slowness of the works, which “can be a big problem”. With this, he referred above all to publicly owned works that have been budgeted for several years and are awarded in the current period.
Although the increase in costs also affects private works, prices can be agreed upon and an agreement reached in these, as the president of the APIC defended. “But there are no agreements with the Administration”, he underlined. Hence, Carretero does not predict a promising future for the Cervantes Theater or the New Segovia Medical Centeramong other projects that have been launched in the capital right now.
Although it is true that at the beginning of March the central government approved a Royal Decree-law with extraordinary measures to allow a review of the prices of public works contracts affected by the rise in material prices, the construction sector construction no longer sees it as a sufficient measure. “It is allowed to raise prices by 20 percent. But now this percentage does not cover anything, since the increase is estimated at more than 70 percent “Carter asserted. And in the future, “nothing that goes up then comes down; we will put up with these prices and in a while they will increase again”.
But this does not end here, since the current situation in construction carries with it some uncertainty. “What will happen to public works that have been around for a long time?”builders are questioned. “Sometimes it is better to lose the guarantees that have been presented and not start the work than to start knowing that you are going to lose a lot of money”said the APIC spokesman. According to him, it is a decision “logic” that can explain many of the delays that are being experienced.
In statements made to The Advance of Segovia this weekend, Carretero took the opportunity to show his discontent with the work of the Department of Urban Planning of the Segovia City Council. “It is the greatest political chaos that can exist in the city”he stated. “Now that the mayor is the head of Urban Planning, we assume that everything will continue to be a real chaos”insisted the president of the Segovian builders.
To do this, he recalled the delay -which still remains- around the CIDE building; as well as the start-up of the business center announced for the area of Meadow of the Hole. “Nobody believes this anymore, it’s amazing”, criticized Carter. In his opinion, it is necessary to review the deadlines, the promises and some forecasts.
The employment situation in the sector is positive, despite the pandemic. However, there are many problems that it brings: “We can’t find labor, it’s very complicated”, he warns. That is why I issue a warning to the large construction projects that are in Segovia: “Let them know that they will not find subcontractors or labor”.
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