The third stage of the Alphabet of the Future tour was attended by Teresa Bellanova, Deputy Minister for Infrastructures and Sustainable Mobility. She was interviewed by Simone Gallotti, a journalist of Il SecoloXIX, and she answered the questions that dealt with the theme of the NRP and the great occasion represented by the government plan.
The PNRR is an extraordinary opportunity for Italy precisely in terms of sustainable mobility but there are also difficulties linked to the current situation, such as the increase in the price of raw materials, which are getting in the way.
“There are difficulties that risk making the opportunities associated with the NRP less effective. It is absolutely necessary to intervene where bottlenecks are created and this is a work that has already been started. We cannot afford the luxury of missing this challenge. After the Marshall Plan, the PNRR represents the most extraordinary intervention our country can enjoy ».
Employment is also the center of attention. Will jobs increase with the ecological transition or are there risks?
“There will be many opportunities and we must seize them. The PNRR aims at relaunching the country’s economy. In this approach there is also the reinterpretation of the infrastructures, as a strategic asset for the relaunch. We have had many resources assigned by the EU for emergencies deriving from Covid but also to go to recover the great gaps, not only between North and South, which characterize our country. Infrastructures are absolutely crucial to winning the challenge of the ecological transition, the energy transition, the digital transition. These three nodes tell how much new employment can be created and how much will be safeguarded. With the Pnrr, the Budget Law, the Development and Cohesion Fund, we, like Mims, have already allocated 104 billion euros in 2022 alone. These are resources with which we can create great opportunities. I am also talking about the employment emergency ».
There is a symbolic work of the PNRR which is the Genoa dam. The race went deserted. What can the government do?
«It is a strategic work, symbolic not only for Genoa but for the whole country. Now we have to work belly to earth to find the necessary resources and to reopen the construction sites. We win the PNRR challenge not only if we reallocate resources but also if the construction sites start. The dam is a point that I consider fundamental but other works must also be implemented such as all the works of the last mile, the third pass of Giovi, the port and rear port infrastructures “.
What are your ministry’s priorities in terms of sustainable mobility?
«A fundamental issue is the care of the iron. An important part of the resources of our ministry has been devoted to this aspect. Then there is the theme of ports. Today 90% of passenger traffic in our country moves by road and over 50% of goods travel by road. If we really want to win the challenge of decarbonisation then we have to implement intermodality and we have to move goods from roads to railways and ports ».