Starting again from school construction, from hydrogeological reorganization and from the redevelopment of cities to make the construction sector an instrument for economic recovery, also using the European funds 2014-2020, which provide 5,3 billion to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and others 20 for urban restructuring. All of this will be discussed in Bologna between 22 and 25 October on the occasion of the 50th Building Innovation Exhibition (Saie), which this year will take place simultaneously with the third edition of the Smart city exhibition, an event organized by Bologna Fiere and Forum Pa.
The initiative was presented today in Montecitorio and Graziano Delrio, undersecretary to the Prime Minister, announced in a message that "the government will present concrete proposals" at the Salone, because "innovation in cities and policies for smart cities are decisive challenges that we must face with a spirit of collaboration”.
Duccio Campagnoli, president of Bologna Fiere, explained that “the program of the Salone foresees a large forum: the goal is to open an agenda for conceiving the building industry for the next 50 years, aiming for the European utopia of the three zeros: zero consumption, zero emissions, zero waste”. The number one of Forum Pa, Carlo Monchi Sismondi, underlined instead that “most of the problems are concentrated in the cities, but also the potential solutions. It is necessary to start from new governance models, to arrive at an integrated management that puts the citizens' quality of life at the center of its action”.
In economic terms, the construction sector is among those that have suffered the heaviest setback during the last years of the crisis. According to Saie elaborations on data from the National Association of Building Builders (Ance), between 2008 and 2013 investments in construction fell by 30%, reaching last year 128,7 billion euros, of which 70,3 in residential construction (-21,1% compared to five years before) and 56,4 n non-residential construction (-38,7%). In the residential market alone, investments in newly built properties stopped in 2013 at 22 billion, more than halved compared to 2008 (-53,9%), while those for redevelopment projects grew to 48,3 billion (+ 16,5%).
According to Mauro Bonaretti, secretary general of the Prime Minister, "we must be able to restart from strategic sectors such as technology and construction: the real key to development is the link between these two dimensions". So far “there has been a lot of talk about smart cities – he added -, but so far we have not demonstrated great innovation for three reasons: the first is strategic and concerns the lack of overall development projects; the second is procedural and concerns the administrative system, which does not favor the ability to invest; the last is conceptual, because the smart city is not the administration as is often thought, but it is the city that integrates in all its components”.
To date, the greatest support from the State for construction has come in terms of tax incentives for the recovery and energy requalification of buildings. The turnover thus activated has grown progressively in recent years: 15,5 billion in 2011, 16 in 2012, 22,9 in 2013 and – according to projections – 33,4 in 2014.
However, the builders require more substantial interventions: “To really start the redevelopment of the cities it is first of all necessary to reactivate the credit – said Paolo Buzzetti, president of ANCE -. Then we need to improve the general rules in the procurement system, because corruption is too widespread, even with infiltration of organized crime, and simplify the burdens and bureaucratic-administrative obligations".
The other big issue “is that of the taxman – added Buzzetti -. For example, the dry coupon on rents could also be extended to companies or guarantee total relief to those who buy a property and then rent it, so as to increase leases. Finally I hear the right words from politics. Now we have to put them into practice."
