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Address by Alberto Tripi at the Conference on "Infrastructure and technology networks for productivity”

Address by Alberto Tripi at the Conference on "Infrastructure and technology networks for productivity”

24-07-2007

The Innovative and Technological Services division of Confindustria, the Italian Employers’ Association, and Confimprese, the Italian Association of Modern Trade Enterprises

07/24/2007
Address by Alberto Tripi at the Conference on "Infrastructure and technology networks for productivity”
 
 

PROJECT FINANCING, INTERMODALITY, IMPROVED COORDINATION AND ENHANCED COMPETITION TO RELAUNCH INFRASTRUCTURES AND DEVELOP CUTTING-EDGE SERVICES
 

 
The Innovative and Technological Services division of Confindustria, the Italian Employers’ Association, and Confimprese, the Italian Association of Modern Trade Enterprises, jointly requests the Government to implement policies capable of overcoming the current standstill in the infrastructure sector and to introduce a strategic project for coordination between the public and private sectors.
 
Rome, 24/7/2007 – A public-private partnership, respectful of the distinct role of each, aimed at pulling the Italian infrastructure system out of the quagmire in which it currently finds itself, to contribute to overcoming backwardness and launch a process of modernization, capable of pursuing a strategy of integration between infrastructural networks, technological networks and innovative services. A partnership that could be developed by setting up a coordination committee comprising the representatives of the services and infrastructures interested in streamlining and enhancing the efficiency of the sector as a whole. This is the proposal launched jointly by the chairman of the Innovative and Technological Services division of Confindustria, Alberto Tripi, and the chairman of Confimprese, the Association of Modern Trade Enterprises, Mario Resca, at the conference on “Infrastructure and Technology Networks for Productivity”, held today in Rome. The meeting was attended by Pierluigi Bersani, the Minister for Economic Development, Innocenzo Cipolletta, the chairman of Fs, the national rail service operator, Paolo Costa, chairman of the Transport Committee of the European Parliament, Massimo Sarmi, ceo of Poste italiane, Gian Mario Tondato, ceo of Autogrill, and Marino Vago, the deputy chairman of Confindustria.
 
The joint Confindustria – Cofimprese project is grounded on the assumption that the physical and digital network infrastructures are the cornerstone of economic and social development, strongly affecting the productivity and competitiveness of the country as a whole. Italy features practically the same productivity index as in 2000, compared to an average growth rate in the UE15 of about 1% and of 1.5% in the USA (OECD figures for 2000-2005). As regards competitiveness, Italy ranks 42nd in the World Economic Forum league table, and 50th for its infrastructure environment.
Today, both conventional and technological infrastructures are straitjacketed by overlapping institutional competencies, long-drawn and conflictual decision-making processes, scarce resources and slow inception procedures, the lack of coordination between national and regional programming, the excessive number of contract-awarding authorities and tendering committees, which are not always up to expectations, and excessive delays in payment. Hence, the need to relaunch so strategic a sector as that of the infrastructure and technology networks – which is classed a priority by the world of enterprises – because their inefficiency is heavily penalizing development in general and, in particular, the evolution of decisive sectors, such as logistics, transport, innovative services, with a domino effect on the retail industry. Suffice it to mention that, as regards current costs of transport and logistics, while in the EU15 area these costs account for 16% of industrial production costs, in Italy the average incidence is 20.5%. Reducing these costs by as little as 1% would lead to savings for about 2.5 billion euros, which might enhance the competitiveness of Italian products.
 
“To modernize and improve the efficiency of the production chain leading to the construction of infrastructure and technology networks is no easy task – said Mr. Tripi, the chairman of Confindustria’s Innovative and Technological Services division – however it is a national priority that can no longer be postponed. Networks should be redesigned overall, as a system integrating state-of-the-art material and technological factors and services. Enterprises do not want money from the public sector, but real cooperation with a view to searching for cutting-edge solutions capable of kick-starting the entire sector. First of all, we need to solve the institutional problems: less and more qualified contract-awarding authorities, opening up infrastructure services to competition, the generalized use of tendering procedures for public procurement and works and restricting in-house operations to limited cases”. 
 
“In these conditions – Mr. Tripi continued – we believe that the step forward would be to promote the use of project financing, which is the means to build effective infrastructures and services and to link return and performance. But, above all, it is necessary to design our future now by creating state-of-the-art technological infrastructures for the country. This means liberalizing Wi-Max frequencies to bring broadband to the areas not yet covered by this technology, to invest in latest generation of ultra-wide band networks, the co-called Next Generation Network, capable of conveying voice, data, media, digital TV. And, with a view to developing infomobility, to boost the use of RFID-based devices, the smart label technology which, today, is applied only to Telepass, the electric toll-collection system on motorways, the radio-frequencies of which were recently liberalized by the Government, a much-appreciated decision, which devices, managed jointly with ICT and satellite technologies, will make it possible to optimize passenger and freight flows and transport”.
 
Mr. Tripi concluded his speech, addressing the Minister, “We would be very pleased if our proposals could be included in Industria 2015, both in the call for ideas phase and in the later implementation of the program”.