The entrepreneur Roberto Rugna is the new president of Ance Calabria, the regional Association of Building Builders belonging to Confindustria, for the next 4 years. He succeeds Giovan Battista Perciaccante who has led the Calabrian builders' college since 2019 and who is carrying out the roles of national vice-president of Ance with responsibility for Southern Italy and the Islands and president of Confindustria Cosenza.
Sole director of Italiana Gas of Corigliano Rossano, one of the companies of the Rugna Group which has been a protagonist in the construction and gas and water networks sector for 40 years, the 45 year old lawyer Roberto Rugna is currently a member of the national General Council of ANCE and of the Board of Directors of ANCE Cosenza. Having been involved in the association system for some time, he was also provincial president of the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria.
He was elected at the Ance Calabria headquarters in Catanzaro by the assembly of delegates attended, among others, by the presidents of the Ance offices of Catanzaro Luigi Alfieri, of Cosenza Giuseppe Galiano, of Vibo Valentia Domenico Letizia, of Crotone Giuseppe Sammarco and Reggio Calabria Michele Laganà with the director of Ance Calabria Luigi Leone and the director of Ance and Confindustria Cosenza Rosario Branda. Present, among others, was the designated vice president of Confindustria Natale Mazzuca.
Unanimous appreciation for the work carried out over the years went to the outgoing president Giovan Battista Perciaccante “who was able to lead the association towards important results for the category – one among many the updating of the regional price list of public works – in a difficult period for the economy”. President Perciaccante thanked his colleagues and expressed the best wishes for good work to his colleague Rugna “who we will support as always done to build new pages together for the development of the territory”.
During his speech, the president of Ance Calabria Rugna thanked his colleagues for the trust placed in him and carried out an examination of the trend of the sector. “Constructions in Calabria, similarly to what happened, contributed around a third to GDP growth in 2023 (which in Italy increased overall by 0.9%). Growth is driven by investments in housing redevelopment, stimulated once again by tax incentives. The contribution provided by the public works sector is also important, which is positively impacted by the start of important works envisaged in the PNRR and the closure, on 31 December 2023, of the 2014-2020 programming of the European structural funds”. However, President Roberto Rugna said he was “concerned about the next few months because the picture is changing: we will see a significant contraction in investments in construction. This result, in addition to a highly uncertain macroeconomic context, is affected above all by the lack of expansionary contribution of extraordinary maintenance, following the disappearance of the instrument of the transfer of credit/invoice discount. Negative signs are also recorded for new housing and private non-residential construction; on the other hand, further and sustained growth in investments in public works is expected, linked to the necessary acceleration of PNRR investments. There is the PNRR until 2026, but after that? As a category we are not asking for help, but for a perspective.”
President Rugna, together with Past President Perciaccante and colleagues Alfieri, Galiano, Laganà, Letizia and Sammarco underlined how “the rapid implementation of the PNRR risks being jeopardized by the failure to resolve the problems of public administration payments and procedural simplifications . Regarding the first topic, over the last few months, payment delays to construction companies have increased and our offices receive warning signals of further slowdowns every day. To meet the stringent deadlines of the PNRR, it is essential that companies are paid promptly. In terms of simplifications, however, no new structural solutions are proposed to the bureaucratic delays that still characterize the implementation of public works in Italy. The only solution proposed is, once again, widespread use of extraordinary commissioners and, at the Government's discretion, derogatory procedures. On this and more we will continue to do our part, with a proactive but firm will in demanding the attention that the construction chain deserves”.