The Minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, has attended the inauguration of the 21st Edition of the International Logistics Exhibition (SIL), the leading logistics, transport, intralogistics and supply chain fair in southern Europe.
At the opening ceremony, where the special state delegate in the Free Trade Zone Consortium of Barcelona, Pere Navarro, has also participated, Ábalos said that "we believe in an approach to investment in infrastructures that contributes decisively to the development of a system of efficient and intelligent transportation ".
In this regard, the minister has reiterated to all political forces and economic agents the need to sign a State Pact on Mobility.
The SIL turns these days to Barcelona and Spain in the international center of the logistics and the transport, in a sector that has happened in 5 years of delivering 125,000 daily packages to an average of 1,250,000; and that supposed in 2018 8% of the Spanish GDP, with a labor contract that increased by 7.9%.
Therefore, "we believe in an approach to investment in infrastructure that contributes decisively to the development of an efficient and intelligent transport system," said Ábalos, who recalled the steps taken by the current government in this regard:
- Working to increase the capacity and connectivity of our airports, which, in 2018, set an historical load record with an annual increase of 9.9%, a trend that remains in 2019.
- Clear bet for Spanish ports, which are the main logistics platform in southern Europe, specifically for Barcelona and its rail access through which the Ministry, through Adif, works with the Port Authority.
- Ensuring an increase in security, conservation and a financing model of the road network and, at the same time, expanding the more than 17,000 km of high capacity roads "to which must be added in the second half of July the commissioning of a new section of the A-2 in Girona, "said Abalos.
- Improvement of transport intermodality, fundamental being those investments that give greater prominence to the railway, "with a firm commitment, acquired by this Government, with the Mediterranean Corridor". The minister, in this sense, has also indicated that "we are fulfilling the anticipated tender deadlines and in 2021 we will finalize the works to connect the French border with Murcia in standard width, while the rest of the sections to connect with Algeciras will be with the works tendered, in execution or finished ".
Ábalos stressed that Catalonia is a central part of this great European project and, therefore, "we have tendered here last year 228 million euros in projects related to the Corridor", recalling that "we have recently started work on the Castellbisbal stretch" Martorell, and in the next months we will put into service the Variante de Valdellós, in Tarragona ".
Finally, the minister has listed the different challenges that the logistics sector has, such as consumer habits with the emergence of electronic commerce, changes in labor relations and the future of work, mobility and transport, through non-polluting vehicles and the promotion of intermodality, and telecommunications, with the start-up of the 5G or the blockchain. Without forgetting the great challenge "as is the future of our planet, in which also this Government, together with the European Union, has a plan: momentum of the 2030 Agenda and the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals".