DCN Would Generate 214,000 Jobs & Increase GDP By €14,000M

20 April 2017 – El Mundo

The Distrito Castellana Norte (DCN) project planned for the North of the city of Madrid, in what is known as Operación Chamartín, would generate 214,000 jobs in total, of which almost 120,000 would see the light during the construction of the project, whilst another 94,000 would be created once the building phase comes to an end. Moreover, the project, which would involve an investment of more than €6,000 million, would increase GDP by €14,000 million and would generate revenues of €3,340 million for the public administrations from the economic activity that this initiative would create.

These data are detailed in the report Effects on the creation of employment of the project to lengthen the Castellana, which has been prepared by two professors from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Antonio Pulido and Julián Pérez.

The developers of the project, which group together BBVA and Grupo San José, understand that a “reductionist” project, such as the one proposed by the Town Hall would “not only deprive Madrid of the necessary infrastructure to ensure an optimum quality of life for its inhabitants and visitors, it would also inevitably have a lower capacity to generate jobs”.
During the forecast 19-year construction period, almost 120,000 full-time jobs would be created, equivalent to 0.6% of total national employment, of which 52,650 would be direct jobs, 42,037 would be indirect jobs and 23,104 would be related jobs. Of those, 80,445 would be created in the Community of Madrid.

Once the neighbourhood has been constructed, the experts calculate that the new activities that would arise in the area would result in the creation of another 94,000 jobs, of which 63,000 would be direct and 31,000 would be indirect. These would be full-time jobs, which would likely be maintained over the long term.

The development of DCN would allow the creation of 6,200 jobs each year, on average. This job creation rate would mean an average reduction in employment in Spain of 0.03%. In the Community of Madrid, the decrease would amount to 0.12% and in the city of Madrid to 0.27%.

Focus on wealth

In their report, Pulido and Pérez calculate that the construction of the DCN project, with an investment of almost €6,050 million, a figure equivalent to nearly 0.6% of Spain’s GDP, would increase domestic production by €14,000 million and would generate new income amounting to €5,400 million. 78% of the new wealth generated would remain in the Community of Madrid.

That means that the project’s contribution to GDP would amount to €286 million each year, which represents an average of €117 per Spaniard per annum. Specifically, the annual income would be €71 for every inhabitant of Madrid, €35 for every inhabitant of the Community and €1.5 for every inhabitant of Spain.

Meanwhile, the public administrations involved in the project would receive tax revenues amounting to €3,340 million, a figure equivalent to 0.6% of the annual state budget for Spain. (…).

Original story: El Mundo

Translation: Carmel Drake