The official session to establish the Construction Foundation took place on July 25th, in a ceremony that took place at the Técnico Innovation Center, in Lisbon, and which was attended by the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Eng. º Miguel Pinto Luz.
The Construction Foundation brings together the Order of Engineers, the Order of Architects, the Order of Economists and 14 leading companies in the construction and project sector in Portugal, including Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções, represented at this event, by Engineer Gustavo Lebreiro, Member of its Board of Directors.
The initiative, unprecedented in bringing together the public, private sector and associations, aims to bring together and coordinate efforts between the main entities in the AEC sector, namely through their contribution to collective knowledge of the country’s real needs in this activity, in areas such as the design of its infrastructures and buildings, taking into account sustainable economic development and the defense of national interests and autonomy.
In his speech, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing expressed that “it is very good when a group unites around a goal like this, even better when that goal is to create knowledge, to better serve our fellow citizens. We are absolutely aligned in this plan. I immediately said “yes, present”. On behalf of the Government, you are counting on us in this challenge of ours, and I am counting on you in this healthy, disruptive provocation to question decisions. We are deeply grateful for this initiative, we look forward to seeing these studies and the healthy provocations they have to offer us, and for them to help us on this path. Hand in hand, we are stronger. We need to strengthen this sector even further, to find new directions and build Portugal.”
Note also the perspective brought by Engineer Fernando de Almeida Santos, Chairman of the Order of Engineers in his speech, in which he highlighted that «Portugal has a lot to gain from some safeguarding of the national interest in business matters. Almost 50% of public works have been awarded to foreign companies in recent years, which is legitimate, but the opposite is not true. We have installed capacity, and there is no public contracting of Portuguese companies abroad.».
To read more about this subject, see the news published on the (RE)Portugal website.
