The Three-Day series of Talks on Conservation organized by Malaga City Council focused on the need to encourage technological development and investment.
The Three-Day Series of Talks on Road Conservation, entitled “Road Conservation Innovation and Continual Improvement”, took place in Malaga this morning.
The event, organized by the Municipal Urban Planning, Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Department, was attended by a number of experts and users in the field who got together to discuss the latest developments and innovations relating to this subject matter.
The inauguration ceremony was presided over by the Mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, who praised the financial effort put in by the City Council in applying new technology to conservation services and the importance of carrying on and investing. Taking part in the talks, along with the mayor, were: Eduardo Fernández, the CEO of Eiffage Infrastructure, and José Manuel Escámez, the Managing Director of Sando Infrastructure, who talked, along the same lines, about the consequences of poor management giving figures to put his message across: “for every euro not invested in conservation throughout the course of a year, after three years it will be necessary to invest five euros instead, and in five years’ time, this cost will increase to 25 euros”.
The first of the conferences during the series of Day-Talks was given by Francisco Martín, the Head of Works for Malaga´s Road Conservation Scheme 2015, who emphasized the need to apply R&D: Road conservation innovation makes it easier for society to expand economically and has a multi-disciplinary effect on other sectors, such as management, data systems, software…”
In this regard, the round-table discussion dealing with quotes and types of contract widened to include the subject matter of finance as well as discussing feasibility. So, the Chairperson, the director of Infrastructure Conservation and Maintenance at Conacon, Jorge Gámiz, began the debate by saying the following: “the best way not to lose time or money is to invest in preserving our heritage”. Marbella Town Councillor, Blanca Fernández, pointed out that investments always appear to be few in number, but they must not be neglected, because “conservation is the public face of a town or city council, especially in tourist areas”.
On a critical note, the manager of the Association of Infrastructure Exploitation and Conservation Companies (ACEX), Pablo Sáez, pointed out that conservation does not usually make the news because there are no ribbon-cutting ceremonies, but that it is vital because “nowadays, members of the public depend on road conservation in order to move around”.
The second of the round table discussions, chaired by Eduardo Fernández, the CEO of Eiffage Infrastructure, was dedicated to new conservation techniques. Ángel Sampedro, a professor from the Alfonso X University, predicted that sometime in the future applied research will enable us to develop road surfaces capable of transmitting data relating to the road surface condition automatically, although at the present time, more research should be done into recycling and Innovative Public Purchase, which could enable public authorities to acquire and apply technology more easily.
For his part, Madrid City Councillor, Borja Carabante, said how worried he was by the lack of flexibility the authorities actually have: “the road is not just a black stain over which cars pass, the aim is to be flexible and efficient in as far as investment in better management is concerned".
The last of the round table discussions, from a user´s point of view, analysed the various different viewpoints made during the series of Talks. The Chairperson, the journalist Luis Carlos Ramírez, extracted from each speech the most controversial points so as these could be debated. Mario Arnaldo Fernández, the President of the European Automobile Association, put forward the topic of road safety which, according to his data, indicates that road traffic accidents represent 1% of the Gross Domestic Product.
Along these lines, Manuel Castillo, the Director of Diario Sur, emphasized the efforts made by the authorities in conservation, but which generally is not appreciated by the general public, and that good education and a policy of implementing adequate fines is essential in order to prevent antisocial behaviour. Likewise, Javier Pérez de la Fuente, the Head of Department for Architecture and Infrastructure in the City Planning Department, stated that in municipal budgets it would be necessary to set aside a minimum annual amount for road conservation “which could be around 0.5% of the value of the city’s assets”.
The last of the speeches was made by Juan Ávila, the general secretary for the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces, who presented at the series of Day talks the pioneering initiative of a National Forum on Conservation of Urban Pavements and who underlined the importance of the role undertaken by the federation as a conveyor belt for positive experiences relating to conservation in cities such as Malaga.
The ceremony can be seen free and has been streamed on the website www.itafec.com, where a number of different speeches and broadcasts are shown.
The series of talks was organized by the Head of City Planning, Civil Engineering and Infrastructure, coordinated by Francisco Carmona Conde, Head of the City Services Department, and was sponsored by the following companies: Conacon and Eiffage Infrastructure in conjunction with the following Associations: Ceacop, Asefma, ACP and ACEX, and the Professional Institutes for Road, Canal and Port Engineering; Technical Engineers from the Civil Engineering and Public Works Department; Industrial Engineers; Architecture; Surveyors and Industrial Technical Engineering, and Quantity Surveyors and Technical Architects.
Download file
