CBI in call for more maintenance investment

Business leaders at the CBI are calling on the Government to bring forward spending plans to stimulate construction in a bid to create up to 215,000 new jobs.

A CBI report published today wants to see funds freed-up for repair,maintenance and improvement work which will create jobs and keep people off the dole.

The report states: “The government has a ready-made mechanism to tackle the current activity gap and create jobs in the immediate future by stimulating repair, maintenance and improvement (RMI) work.

“RMI work can deliver jobs quickly on the ground across all regions, including creating openings for unemployed young people as its nature offers ‘hands-on’ jobs suitable for school-leavers.

“In addition, RMI projects generally have the advantage of shorter procurement timescales.”

The CBI wants to see local authorities prioritise repair work in their budgets in areas like highways maintenance.

It also wants to ‘localised pipelines’ of future work published to mirror developments at national level.

It said: “To support more local RMI activity, localised pipelines should also be considered.

“Developing more specific pipelines of construction work (for three to five years ahead for example) would help attract private sector investment locally and support the creation of local construction jobs.

“Knowing what’s around the corner in any given location would enable firms of all sizes across the supply chain to better identify, prioritise and plan their investment, striking up constructive dialogue with local stakeholders early on.”