(Finance) – 130 billion euros of investments to be planned between now and the next twelve months: a crucial turning point and an unrepeatable opportunity for infrastructures and more generally for the transport system of our country.
At the Rimini Meeting, the Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility Enrico Giovannini was the protagonist of the discussion Mare Nostrum: the Mediterranean, a new way of connections with some of the main operators in the sector. Mediterranean crossroads of peoples, cultures, but also of goods and value, threatened by climate change. Giovannini raised the alarm: “According to experts, the melting of the polar ice cap could threaten the centrality of the Mediterranean for the transport of goods, creating new routes in the North”. Italy cannot limit itself to being “a simply logistic platform of arrival” for containers, but must be thought of as a “place of transformation and departure of the goods“to give value to the territories by strengthening rear ports and special economic zones.
130 billion in investments in the pipeline, between Pnrr and other European funds: “Now the Regions will be able to choose whether to distribute them in a rain – which in the past has not led to positive results – or whether to concentrate them to create a flywheel effect “.” By the end of our mandate – Giovannini announced – we will deliver an investment plan to the country that you start a process that this country had decided not to do for eleven years: a general plan for transport and logistics? And on the PNRR: “Someone says that we have to rethink it. However, we have very tight deadlines for implementation, but also very tight deadlines due to international competition: economic operators, in fact, choose where to invest quickly”. Infrastructure is not enough, operators are also needed: “We have too many small companies, we need bigger, stronger, more market leaders. We need entrepreneurs who really believe in it, with a passion for Italy “.
Giovannini also announced that the Ministry of Infrastructure is working on “two important floors”, or “on airports, in collaboration with Enac” and “maritime spatial planning” or “how maritime areas are used for the installation of wind farms”. “The PNRR is a highly anticipated plan – he said – and it concerns four aspects: investments, on which there is a maximum acceleration, regulatory implementation but also planning because Italy has not done its homework for many years “.
Speaking of the implementation of the PNRR, Giovannini explained that “many tenders have started while others are scheduled for the second half because times are tight. There is no doubt that the increase in the prices of raw materials has postponed some tenders but we are in time, “he added. “In these 18 months – Giovannini underlined – our ministry has approved over 260. This commitment to define the implementation of the laws will continue in ordinary administration and we hope to accelerate as much as possible “.
The Minister also indicated the way to sustainability. “To bring our world on the path of not only environmental but above all environmental sustainabilityshe needs some factors: technology is one of the indispensable elements which, however, must be transformed into innovation, new services, new materials, a new way of conceiving our life, our economy, including the theme of mobility “. “The concept of mobility as a service especially for cities, for urban areas – said the minister – allows for the integration of different mobility systems: from cars to buses, trains, bicycles, but also innovation in long periods mileage, the possibility for new vehicles to communicate with infrastructures. It means reducing accidents, improving consumption and reducing the environmental impact, it means having those infrastructures that can be used more, in safety, with a lower environmental impact and at lower costs, even for the user “Giovannini concluded.