ROME – The vast majority that supports the Draghi government in the Transport Commission of the Chamber cannot find a summary on what the content of the Recovery Fund should be. And the inclusion or not of the Messina Strait Bridge in the document becomes a reason for conflict.
Forza Italia and Lega would have insisted on the need to include the indication of the Bridge in the opinion, the M5s rejoices because the work would have disappeared from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the Pd intervenes to say that it is exactly the opposite, or that the Ponte is also there if the opinion of the technical commission is awaited.
In short, for the umpteenth time it is not possible to find the square on what is defined by many as the only work that can be immediately built for the South, the one that could create thousands of jobs and bring high speed from Helsinki. up to Palermo bringing Sicily and the South of Italy into the great European trade corridors.
“The future of the country is not to be played – say in a note the deputies of the League and members of the Transport Commission Edoardo Rixi, national head of infrastructures, and Domenico Furgiuele -. The positive vote on the Pnrr opinion in the Transport Commission establishes the awareness that a fixed structure on the Strait of Messina is indispensable. A step forward also compared to the Senate, the future of the economy of the South and of the entire country is at stake. A non-stop work of the League to include the evaluation of the preparatory works for the construction of the bridge or the submarine tunnel. The ideological impositions are now giving way to environmental solutions suitable for the growth of the territories ».
Instead, the M5s continues to say no to the Bridge: “With the opinion voted in the committee – say the deputies and deputies of the 5 Star Movement in the Transport Committee -, we wanted to give greater strength to a Recovery plan that must invest more resources and in a short time on sea connections with the major islands, both in terms of public transport and commercial traffic. On our proposal, in fact, the opinion proposes to renew the naval fleet dedicated to the local public transport of the Regions, with more efficient and low-emission vehicles, even between Calabria and Sicily ».
«We have already reiterated several times – continues the note – that for Sicily and Calabria it is a priority to focus on the many nearby works and infrastructures that are actually useful to the territory. And on the other hand it is evident that a stable crossing work such as the Bridge over the Strait could possibly be carried out only in a long time and certainly cannot be included in the Pnrr. These are the rules of the European Union on the Recovery Plan and the ministers Giovannini and Carfagna have repeatedly reiterated this ».
«So” other than Ponte “» says the note from the M5s who prefer to renew and increase the fleet «immediately, focusing all over the country on the unique opportunity offered by the so-called motorways of the sea» they conclude.
“It is exactly the opposite – replies the rapporteur of the Transport Commission of the Chamber, Enza Bruno Bossio (Pd): in the opinion of the Transport Commission we speak of the Bridge over the Strait of Messina, and on this there was a battle, but the fact that we of the Democratic Party, Lega and Fi have voted for the opinion shows that there is a bridge in the opinion ».
“First of all, we could not write to simply include the construction of the bridge within the PNRR – explains the parliamentarian of the Democratic Party – because such indications would involve following up on the project carried out 20 years ago. But that project was conceived in project finacing, while today we are thinking of a stable crossing without tolls, and therefore at the expense of the State. This is why we asked the Commission responsible for evaluating the construction of the stable crossing to send the comparative study on the usefulness of this crossing to Parliament, and if there will be an affirmative answer to indicate how to make it, that is, whether with a tunnel or a bridge, and whether single span or not, and so on. If, as it should happen, the Commission’s opinion arrives within 20 days, we will ask the government to include in the Pnrr to be sent to Brussels not the construction of the entire crossing, but a lot, because in the Pnrr it is not possible to insert works whose construction lasts longer than the loan itself “.
And in fact, in the opinion on the Recovery Plan approved by the Transport Commission of the Chamber on the proposal of the rapporteur Enza Bruno Bossio we read: “For the verification of the optimal technical solutions contained in the study of the commission on the stable and fast crossing of the Strait of Messina established at the Ministry of Sustainable Infrastructure and Mobility, this study is requested to be immediately forwarded to Parliament for approval of the opinion; with respect to the scenarios (bridge or tunnel), it is evaluated if and which works and interventions can be carried out under the conditions set out in the PNRR ».