Presented at Villa Madama on 8 October, the ANCE 2014 Report on the presence of Italian construction companies in the world is the synthesis of how a multiplicity of efforts can be successful if developed on several levels even in a period of uncertainty and global difficulties.
The Report, drawn up by Francesco Manni and Elena Colopardi of the Economic Affairs Department and Study Center of the National Association of Building Constructors, speaks of very important figures. The Italian construction sector is one of the first to distance itself from the crisis of recent years thanks to a foreign turnover that grew by 2013% in 8,6 and which derives from the acquisition of orders across the border for a value of no less than 17 billion euros .
The results that emerge from the document - also completed thanks to the participation of 38 contractor – demonstrate how, faced with the slowdown in the Italian construction industry, the latter have been able to react to the hardships of the internal market (the turnover of the national construction industry has, in fact, recorded an increase of 0,3% only in partial recovery compared to the previous year, -7%) going not only to increase their presence in foreign markets (non-EU in particular) but going so far as to reverse the trend according to which the main Italian building contracts should come from the national territory. In the last year alone, 319 construction sites were opened, in addition to the pre-existing ones, for a total of 797 active construction sites led by Italian companies and present all over the world for a total value of 70 billion euros.
In quantitative terms, the largest number of construction sites led by contractor Italians are located in the Middle East - with a total of 130 construction sites at work and where Saudi Arabia, with 63 operational construction sites, is the leader, although "tailed" by North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa with, respectively, 121 and 120 construction sites. Works managed through Italian shipyards are then present in other European Union countries (98), in South America (94) and in non-EU countries (74 and mostly in Switzerland and Russia).
In terms of qualityhowever, the region from which the most significant orders derive (16 billion euros of work in progress) is South America, with Venezuela in the lead, whose orders alone represent 14% of the total orders acquired by Italian construction companies in the world.
However, we need to look beyond the simple market and sectoral development perspective to the ANCE Report and the event that introduced it to the public. The PRexemption of the Report in the context of Villa Madama - which was also presided over as speakers by representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Development - it is the testimony of how the involvement of the institutions can go beyond the simple execution of bureaucratic activities to translate into a task of coaching and concrete support to the activity of national companies. In fact, we recall that the two ministries are present alongside businesses with a series of dedicated services and - in particular - that of Economic Diplomacy and the ICE Agency.
