“We are in the third year of contraction for the construction market. From EUR15.3 billion in 2008 we’ve seen EUR11.7 billion in 2009, EUR9.7 billion in 2010 and we’ve reached EUR9.3 billion in 2011, and the outlook for this year is still worrisome,” ARACO president Laurentiu Plosceanu told a news conference Friday.
The main issues faced by the construction market include the unpredictability of project funding, major delays in the payment of receivables, the evolution of energy prices and the decapitalization of construction companies, according to ARACO.
As such, the association asks authorities to take measures against the market’s decline, including the payment of receivables for 2009-2011, estimated at EUR650 million in the beginning of 2012, and the development of a public website as registry for the debts owed by state-owned clients, with a mention of the estimated payment deadline.
At the same time, ARACO requests the continued promotion of investment in various infrastructure areas, residential construction or building rehabilitation, support for long-term development programs, such as the Bucharest 2035 Strategic Concept, and the public communication of projects panned for this year, along with their budgets.
Other requests include the evaluation of the negative economic impact of urbanism plan refusal in city councils and a more efficient investment tracking system, for the progressive removal of black market activities.