A delegation from Ciment Català, led by President Salvador Fernández Capo, held a working session last week with Jaume Baró, Secretary of Business and Competitiveness of the Generalitat of Catalonia. During the meeting, both parties assessed public infrastructure construction and maintenance projects as a suitable strategy both to enhance the country’s competitiveness and to revitalize the cement market, which has been experiencing stagnation in recent times. The Director General of Industry, Oriol Alcoba, also participated in the meeting.
The public works bidding process is emerging as a solution to the shortcomings Catalonia faces in infrastructure related to mobility and the water cycle. The Generalitat and the cement sector agreed in highlighting, among the benefits of promoting a more active policy in this area, the improvement of citizens’ quality of life and the increase in business productivity.
The working session allowed representatives of cement factories to inform the Government about the current state of the sector. On one hand, they presented the determination and actions of companies in the fight against climate change, a commitment that will be reinforced in 2025 with the update of the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality in the Catalan Cement Industry. This plan foresees an acceleration in achieving this goal, mainly through the development and implementation of carbon capture, utilization, and storage technologies, which, however, will require support and funding programs to be successfully consolidated.
On the other hand, but also related to these environmental projects, the Generalitat was urged to speed up the resolution of administrative procedures affecting cement manufacturing companies. This includes both technical permits related to factory operations and the approval of projects linked to the development and financing of decarbonization efforts.