Civil Works Investments: Main Projects of 2019

Global Vision of Expected Investments in Civil Works

Many countries have big plans for 2019, among them: increases of the sector's initiatives, budget growth and construction of major works.

Argentina counts on public-private participation to increase investment in the civil engineering sector with a focus on infrastructures. If in the previous year this investment corresponded to 4.2% of GDP, in 2019 it would become 4.4% of the Gross Domestic Product of the country. In Mexico, President Andrés Manuel López Obrado announced an amount of 500 billion pesos for projects of infrastructure works. Investment in infrastructure projects in Spain is at its highest since 8 years, corresponding to 10,029.69 million euros and being 18.1% higher than in 2018. The high-speed railways (AVE) represent 2,660 million of euros, the largest amount invested in the Spanish infrastructure area that corresponds to 52% of the total value used in works related to trains and comprises a quarter of the total investment in infrastructures. But that is not all, the country will invest 2,328 million euros in the maintenance and construction of roads. Also, 829 million will be invested in ports, 689 million euros in airports, 851 million to build hydraulic facilities and another 134 million will go for constructions that favor the environment. This year, the Trump administration will also put a spotlight on infrastructures. The US initiative should include $ 200 billion of public funds for various works related to the sector. In addition, it plans to raise $ 1.3 trillion to remodel roads, bridges and airports that are in precarious conditions. In addition, the president will allocate $ 50 billion to modernize infrastructure in rural areas.  

The Main Infrastructure Projects to Keep an Eye On In 2019  

Brazil - Ferrogrão Construction of a 933 km railroad that will link the grain production area located in the State of Mato Grosso to the fluvial port of Pará and, and hence will make possible a 10-year increase in the production of soy and corn. The civil works infrastructure that is rated as the most challenging of the Government is based on the expansion of the area of production of the farmers, the reduction of the logistic costs and the possibility of the use of the lands that are now used for grazing. With this, the project aims to have the 14.86 million hectares used for grain production become 22.26 million hectares.   Argentina - Transport Plan The most ambitious civil engineering project focused on the country's infrastructure will be composed of:

• National Road Plan, which aims at the construction of 2,800 km of roads,
• Public Transport Infrastructure Plan, which brings metro and buses to more Argentine cities,
• Cargas Railroad Plan, which aims at construction of 400 km of railroad tracks,
• Aerocomercial Plan, which consists of the renovation of 8 airports of the nation.

  Mexico - Maya train Construction of a railroad that will depart from Palenque (Chiapas) and arrive to Cancún. That way, it will unite 5 states and go through 9 cities.   Spain - AVE Continuation of the high-speed rail corridors that are currently under construction: Galician AVE, Mediterranean AVE, Basque country AVE and Extremaduran AVE.   USA - Google Submarine Cable Company will build its first submarine cable to connect the cities of Valparaíso (Chile) and Los Angeles (USA) via the Internet. The project aims to reduce the company's dependence on the infrastructure offered by telecommunications operators in Latin America.  

The Growth of Civil Works and BIM (Building Information Modeling)

Bigger investments in infrastructure projects translate into a growing need of BIM application, since the information modeling allows organizing, documenting, sharing and compatibilizing the project information in real time. This, BIM makes the results of the works more accurate, avoiding the refactoring of work making the projects more economical, fast and efficient. This way, the growth of the civil construction sector goes hand in hand with the demand for BIM formation. The AECO sector is in need of trained professionals who know how to manage this new work methodology that comes with the digitization of the sector. Therefore, in order to compete in the labor market, it will be essential for these professionals to differentiate themselves through a BIM training that links the theoretical knowledge with the practical, has a highly specialized teaching staff and fosters collaborative work among students.