Chairmen of construction federations in our region held a meeting in Sofia. The meeting was hosted by Venelin Terziev, Vice-President of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) and Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Construction Chamber (BCC). BCC Chairman Eng. Svetoslav Glosov welcomed the participants and briefed them on the status of the industry in the country. Guests at the meeting in the building of the Chamber were Costas Russia, President of the Cyprus Building Contractors Association, Andreas Michalos, Secretary General of the Cyprus organization and Laurentiu Plosceanu, Chairman of the Romanian Association of Building Contractors.

On the Bulgarian side the meeting was attended by Eng. Tanya Kamenova, member of the Executive Board of BCC, Eng. Viktor Sharkov and Vasil Vutov, members of the Supervisory Board of BCC, representatives of the international department of the Chamber – Eng. Jani Antova and Maria Zheleva, and Reneta Nikolova, procurator and editor-in-chief of  “Stroitel” newspaper.

BCC Chairman Eng. Glosov said that the decline in the sector is mainly in the high construction – about 80%. In general, the collapse in the sector compared to the peak in 2008 is about 68%. According to him, the construction business after 2009 develops mainly on infrastructure projects. He stressed that the main work for builders comes from public procurement contracts as 90% of them are from European programs.

“This trend has continued for three years now and will be also leading in 2013. The following months will be difficult for the business because the programming period ends and we will be looking for the new one. Now we are preparing the projects which will be applied in the following years. We expect that there will be a vacuum in the second half of 2013 and the first half of 2014 while the projects will be approved and the funding of the new building sites begins. Moreover, after a few months parliamentary elections come,” he added.

Eng. Glosov said that currently they are working mainly on the construction of transport infrastructure and OP Environment – waste water treatment plants, waste management facilities, etc. In his words, the sites of the program for rural areas development and that for energy efficiency are a chance for small and medium enterprises.

The BCC Chairman stressed the important role of the Chamber to protect the interests of construction companies. He noted the patriotic activities of the organization that restores Bulgarian monuments of culture, as an example he pointed out the Monument to the Tsar Liberator Alexander II.

“Romanian companies are also experiencing difficulties. Last year we experienced two parliamentary votes which had its influence,” said Laurentiu Plosceanu, Chairman of the Romanian Association of Building Contractors. We are currently working to establish a Code of Ethics for builders in Romania, which is prepared by retired ministers of construction, experts, etc. by drawing on the experience of the Netherlands.

“Bulgarian builders have a Code of Ethics for several years on the basis of which functions a committee, which deals with disputes between different companies. We are preparing the establishment of arbitration,” said Venelin Terziev. FIEC Vice President said he would send the Bulgarian document, stressing that such is necessary also at European level.

Plosceanu noted that Germany would soon open market for several million workers and construction associations in the region along with Hungary and Poland can help to build clear and precise rules on how the process occurs.

“They need to work with our companies as subcontractors rather than employ workers man by man,” he explained. (Interview with Laurentiu Plosceanu on p.9.)

According to Venelin Terziev, the issue is complex and intertwined with employee training, statutory leave pay so that the decision will not be very easy.

Plosceanu recalled that in July last year was announced a strategy for sustainable development of competition in the construction sector and that he is a reporter for the proposed changes by FIEC. “We have one month to gather the views of the countries – members of the federation,” he said.

The Romanian chairman said they have a cooperation agreement with the Chinese organization and the goal is to find money for public-private partnership, i.e. funds from China, work in Romania.

“We are on the border of Europe, so we hope for both European and Chinese financing for development projects,” he said.

“With a population of 800,000 people Cyprus has 3,000 construction companies. Currently intensive discussions with Cypriot trade unions are going to change the terms of payment. The minimum wage of builder in our country without insurance is 1,806 euro,” said Costas Russia, President of the Cyprus Building Contractors Association.

He raised the issue of certification of workers and other participants in the meeting agreed on the need to unify criteria for covering different classes.

Venelin Terziev proposed rules of procedure of the group to be discussed and signed at the next meeting. It will clearly set out the obligations of each representative of the group.

FIEC Vice President informed the participants about the meeting of the Board of the organization, held a few days ago in Brussels. There were discussed a number of issues related to the state of the construction market in Europe, development of public-private partnership, certification of workers and possible joint initiatives. An updated financial report for 2012 and the budget framework for 2013 were introduced. The conclusion of the meeting is that the budget for the past year will be met with a balanced result. Venelin Terziev has made a proposal to attract new members of FIEC from the group of countries working on programs to join the EU in order to increase revenue.

From discussions during the meeting it became clear that currently a program for the congress of the construction organization is being prepared. One of the topics is already specified and it will be “Water”. A discussion of facility management will also be organized as it is considered strategic for FIEC and the member states. During the Board of the organization was reported about the prepared modernization of the website. The goal is the new option to start working at the end of the first quarter of this year.

Venelin Terziev informed that each one of the committees – economic, legal, social and technical, has reported on its business.