The FCC Group's chairman and CEO, Baldomero Falcones Jaquotot, will be the first president for the new era now facing SEOPAN, the Association of National Building Firms. The chairmen of the main businesses belonging to SEOPAN will take one-year turns in the president's seat and will have the support of Vice-President Julián Núñez Sánchez, whose executive role has been bolstered. The Executive Board also decided to appoint Manuel Manrique vice-president, representing the Sacyr Vallehermoso Group.

The defining event for this new era at SEOPAN is the Executive Board's acceptance of David Taguas' resignation from the presidency. Mr Taguas is leaving the association bearing the thanks of all its members for the dedication and professional attitude he displayed throughout his time in office.

The presidency will cease to be a paid office. It is also the intention of the member firms to rationalise and streamline SEOPAN's structure and operating costs while maintaining and strengthening its standing as a representative of its sector and an institutional voice whose members are directly involved in its management.

SEOPAN was created in 1957. Its members are domestic and international building firms and groups that do business in the fields of infrastructure, concessions, services and real estate. Its group turnover in 2011 was over 67,000 million euros, the equivalent to 6.3% of Spain's gross domestic product (GDP), and its members employed over 400,000 people.

The member firms are economic powerhouses, and they look on investment in infrastructure as a spur to growth that improves our economy's competitive edge and therefore supports the creation of jobs. Recently the Spanish Confederation of Employers' Organisations (CEOE), through its Concession and Service Committee, submitted to the government a proposed five-year infrastructure plan, spanning the years from 2012 to 2016, to boost economic activity in Spain. The plan would require a legal framework that will bring in international investors who believe our country has what it takes.

This plan calls for an investment of 80,600 million euros in transport infrastructure, water infrastructure and social services, would create 480,000 jobs in the first two years and could contribute a 1.3% boost to the GDP by the end of 2016.