Cristian Erbaşu: "The reduction in fiscal facilities will be reflected in the final price paid by customers"

Cristian Erbaşu, the president of the Federation of Construction Societies Patronages (FPSC), claims that the reduction of the fiscal facilities previously granted to this activity sector will finally be reflected in the price paid by customers.

Cristian Erbaşu told us: "Reducing the fiscal facilities granted to the construction sector will lead to an increase in salary costs, because the companies in the field will not be able to afford to reduce their employees' salaries. In parallel with the reduction of fiscal facilities, the minimum wage in construction will also be increased to 4,500 lei and, under these conditions, it is possible that the labor will be increased by 10% by the companies - on the wage envelope, this is the percentage resulting from the application of the two measures -, which we will see if we will succeed partially, totally in any case, to recover it from the contracts we have already signed or from the future contracts where this labor increase will be budgeted. It is certain that the increase in construction costs will ultimately be reflected in the price paid by customers to the companies in the field. It is normal for this to happen, especially since we are at a cost level below the other countries around us".

The president of the FPSC stated that the costs will also be increased for the works on the infrastructure projects financed from European funds or from the state budget, but in this case the money will be partially recovered, at a percentage of 70%, from the coefficient of adjustment of the cost of the contract .

Cristian Erbaşu said: "I hope that the budgets of future contracts, of future projects for which tenders will be organized, will be updated and increased by 10% so that all bidders can fit into the budget proposed by the bid. For ongoing projects, we will partially recover, i.e. 70%, of the increase in these costs, from the adjustment coefficient".

Regarding the reduction of fiscal facilities granted to the construction sector, the president of the FPSC mentioned that, following discussions with the Government representatives, it was agreed that the elimination of the facility granted on CASS will lead to some balance at the level of the National Health Insurance House. Under these conditions, the construction companies hope that the additional sums will be used properly by CNAS, especially since that institution has significant arrears in reimbursing the medical leaves paid by the companies to employees who were in a medical situation that did not allow them to report to work.

Regarding the 1% tax for companies that exceed 50 million euros in turnover, Cristian Erbaşu stated that this is not an additional tax, but applies to those who declare that they have a profit below 6.25%, only companies respective to pay the new tax. The president of the FPSC also told us that, unfortunately, there are also such companies in construction, but most of them are large companies that have declared profits between 3% and 5%. Under the conditions of the introduction of this tax, according to Mr. Erbaşu, the respective companies will have to make their offers in such a way that they declare a profit of over 6.25%.