MILAN, November 10, 2021 – “One hundred thousand people are required to complete the projects under the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan), 26,000 of which with specialized skills. The country must have confidence in its youth and invest in their training without, of course, wasting the valuable and qualified expertise that is already available. There must also be an enormous focus on work safety. We have a unique opportunity for the recovery of Italy, the southern region and employment. There is an urgent need to increase training as well as reskilling the unemployed. We welcome the fund for Active Employment Policies that was recently approved by the government that should be extended to new hires. The government needs to favour policies for retraining and introduce incentives for companies to train and hire young people,” said Pietro Salini, Chief Executive of Webuild, a guest on Re Start, a television programme on Rai 2, a channel of the Italian public broadcaster.

“Webuild is working on setting up a trade school at construction sites to form skilled workers also through the use of simulators and with a particular focus on safety. Safety, training and the availability of resources both human and material are the issues that need to be addressed urgently. When it comes to work safety, we  have a big gap as a country compared with the rest of the world. We must invest in this. We cannot allow projects to be done without safety,” Salini added.

“We also have to take into account the problem caused by the rise in the price of raw materials, a situation that is putting construction sites and companies in the sector at risk,” he said. “Contracts must be drafted to take into account a price review, adopting rules that are already applied in Europe and internationally, to guarantee that projects get done safely and protect the supply chain as investment in infrastructure increases. There is no need to invent anything.”

“Today, Webuild is working on 27 important infrastructure projects for the relaunch of the construction sector together with a supply chain of more than 7,000 companies which indicates what a big opportunity the PNNR represents for the relaunch of Italy and the south. However we need a coordinated approach, a new model of collaboration between the public and the private – as was used for the Genoa San Giorgio Bridge. The Genoa Model shows that when the interested parties work towards a single objective, the national system is able to build public works on time without wasting any financial resources,” he concluded.