Prompt reaction of the Italian railway network on the abyss of the extra costs that risked derailing the PNRR. RFI has updated the economic framework of the main works competing in 2022 which from 19 have become 23 (17 Pnrr and 6 extra Pnrr). Among the new entries Passante and the new High Speed Station of Florence (1.2 billion extra Pnrr), while two of the three lots of Salerno-Reggio Calabria (Romagnano-Praja and doubling of the Santomarco tunnel) are postponed to 2023. The Battipaglia-Romagnano section is proceeding (1.8 billion).
The new competition calendar
From the new calendar of competitions, many confirmations arrive that – on this high range of planned works – they are worth a total amount of 18 billion (the total plan 2022 goes over 19 billion, as announced at the Trento Festival of Economics by the CEO of Fs , Luigi Ferraris). The most interesting data in the table that we publish at the end of the article, however, comes from the 3.4 billion extra costs that are recorded by adding up the differences between old and new costs for 21 of these 23 tenders. The 21 works for which the old cost is available (the Florence Passante Av and the Sa-Rc lot are missing) are worth 15,012 million today while they were worth 11,608 million three months ago. The increase in auction bases is therefore 29.3%.
The assist of the Aid decree
The merit of the prompt reaction of the FS – as Ferraris had explained in Trento – must be shared with the Aid decree with which the government made 7.5 billion available for the works of the PNRR to be updated. On the other hand, a Dpcm, on the proposal of Mef, will then assign the available resources to the individual works. But it is clear that the government today is breathing a sigh of relief at the fact that the rule of the decree was quickly translated into operation. The company led by Vera Fiorani was very ready to adjust the price lists twice after two months and then to redefine the economic framework of all the main works in progress.
The roadmap for the opening of construction sites
The other roadmap to always keep in mind is the opening of construction sites. The NRR sets 2023 as the limit for awarding contracts and 2026 as the deadline for completion. Furthermore, the NRR has chosen to put the preliminary project to tender, which takes about a year to make the final project, authorize it in detail and start the construction sites.
Most of the construction sites will therefore open from 2023. With the exception of 5 Av works already in progress that Brussels agreed to include among those Pnrr: Terzo pass, Brescia-Verona, Verona-Padua, Naples-Bari and Palermo-Catania. They grind spending, beyond the targets. As for the new works, RFI plans to open construction sites in July 2022 of two lots on Naples-Bari and Adriatica, while between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 preparatory work should begin on another Palermo-Catania lot, on the line to the Airport. of Venice and on the Trento ring road.