The Council of Ministers, at its meeting today, authorized the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to tender a service contract for the execution of various conservation and exploitation operations on state roads in Cantabria, with an estimated value of 29.83 million euros (VAT not included).
The duration is 3 years and 3 months, with the possibility of extension of 1 year and 9 months and an additional one of a maximum of 9 months.
This contract includes requirements to promote energy efficiency and emission reduction and is part of the Ministry’s program to maintain traffic, road and safety conditions in the State Road Network (RCE), ensuring that it is accessible in the right conditions to all citizens.
The works are aimed at the maintenance and conservation of 159,350 km of roads in sector No. 3, which includes 41 km of motorways, on the A-8 (from km 231,750 to 273,500) and several sections of the roads N-621, N-621A and N-634.
Next to the related roads, the Valdáliga service areas and other functional elements or public services associated with them will be the subject of the contract, as well as the execution of the work:
- Rehabilitation of the firm on the N-621 in San Glorio, stretch between km 121,650 and 146,250.
What's new in the sheets
Thus, within the strategy of reducing emissions and improving energy efficiency, the Ministry has included objectives of mitigation and compensation of the carbon footprint in the tender documents of the conservation and exploitation contracts (COEX) of the State Road Network, which means that companies must include in their offers the calculation of the carbon footprint that they will generate during the execution of the contract in each stretch of the road.
They will also commit to presenting a decarbonization plan in the first six months of the contract with reduction and emissions compensation measures to achieve a carbon neutral balance within 5 years from the start of the contract. The compensation can be done through the absorption projects registered in the Carbon Footprint, Compensation and Carbon Dioxide Absorption Projects, under the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, or through other options.
This plan will also be included in the evaluation criteria n.
The aim is to reduce CO2 by 71,640 tonnes per year, which, according to calculations made by the General Directorate of Roads, generates the regular operation and maintenance and operation of the State Road Network and reinforces the orientation towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to which the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility is committed.
Conservation model characteristics
The new model of mixed contracts (services and works) for the execution of conservation and exploitation operations in the State Road Network aims to offer a comprehensive service of mobility to the user, improve the state of the road and network, and optimize public resources.
Through them, works are carried out to help the roads and ordinary conservation of the roads, to allow the infrastructure and its functional elements to have the best possible conditions of circulation and safety. It includes actions such as: status information and programming agenda, operating aid and road safety studies, and maintenance of road elements with adequate levels of quality.
Last year, energy efficiency measures were incorporated into service facilities, such as self-consumption, renewable heating systems, energy saving measures in lighting or the implementation of electric motor vehicles.