UDINE. The management of the former provincial road network, i.e. more or less 2,000 200 kilometers of roads throughout Friuli Venezia Giulia, of which over 1,000 300 in Udine and 600 in Pordenone, will pass from 1 January to the regional decentralization bodies (Edr) which, in the intentions of the Fedriga junta, they should transform themselves, by the end of the legislature, into the “old” provinces.
The bill by Pierpaolo Roberti, in fact, was approved by the Regional Council – with the votes of the majority alone – at the end of the marathon of budget settlement which, a couple of hours earlier, had allocated 50 million euros precisely to management of the former provincial roads. The process of approving the law has its roots in that sort of counter-reform of local authorities that the center-right has been carrying out since the beginning of the legislature. At the time of Debora Serracchiani, the abolition of the Provinces and the birth of the Uti, in fact, the center-left had decided to centralize the management of this portion of the regional road network, entrusting it, with the transfer of its staff, to Fvg Strade.
Once the elections were won, however, the center-right decided to return to the old with the ultimate goal of seeing the four historic provinces of Friuli Venezia Giulia reborn. A complex path, in any case, because if the path of approving an implementation rule through the Joint Commission was not feasible, as many argue, the junta would only have to rely on a law of constitutional rank which, in all honesty, it seems to have little chance of being launched before the end of the national legislature.
The intermediate stage, therefore, is represented by the Edr to whom the council initially entrusted the management of school buildings as the first macro function and now, but starting next year, also the former provincial road system. «The 50 million euro allocation included in the maneuver – confirms Roberti – will allow us to make the Edr immediately operational from 1 January. I would also like to point out how, within this fund, we plan to raise regional funding, from 10 to 15 million, in favor of ordinary maintenance intended as, for example, the mowing of grass ».
The Edr, therefore, will be responsible for the design, construction, expropriation, maintenance, management and surveillance functions, with the exception of the authorizations for the circulation of transport and exceptional vehicles, which will remain in the hands of Fvg Strade. The practices will therefore be simplified, having a single interlocutor for all types of regional roads, former provincial or managed in Anas. Edr will also be granted the right to activate agreements on specific activities to be centralized such as the maintenance of the machinery fleet.
As for the employees, going further, from 1 January those in charge of Fvg Strade for the former provincial functions will pass to the Edr, but on Friday Roberti will also bring in addition the new needs plan that will allow the council to scroll, from January, the rankings of merit of the competitions already completed (the one for category “C”) or close to the conclusion (category “D”) to strengthen the staff available to the Edr. To date, the employees of Fvg Strade for the management of this function are 101, but they are, in fact, ready to increase. At the end of 2014 the province of Udine had 108 employees in the provincial road network, currently there are 58, in addition to 20 fixed times: 43 units will be hired to return to 101 employees overall. The province of Pordenone boasted 54 employees. Today there are 31 plus six set times: an increase of 16 units will reach 47. In Gorizia there were 15 employed. Today there are seven plus three fixed times and with an increase of eight people we will reach 15. Finally, in Trieste, there were 12 workers, today there are five plus two fixed times and with an increase of four we will arrive to nine.
«From January we will finally be able to resolve – comments Roberti together with his colleague at Infrastructure Graziano Pizzimenti – the critical issues related to road maintenance and the staff employed. Furthermore, the transfer of employees within the single sector will produce significant savings because the Anas contract, which is more onerous, will no longer be applied and the possibility of new hires will be opened through regional rankings and new competitions. In all this, therefore, we will guarantee more personnel and more resources to meet the needs of the regional territory with greater efficiency ». –