Pnrr, because Anac disappoints Webuild on the Genoa dam
The Anti-Corruption Unit confirms the findings on the contract for the work of the Genoa breakwater assigned to the Breakwater consortium led by Webuild and hypothesizes waste of public money and possible illicit acts. Chigi also raised questions about the governance of Webuild
The main work of the Pnrr is at risk of running aground, the 1.3 billion Genoa breakwater whose construction was entrusted, not without fueling doubts and controversies, to the Pergenova Breakwater consortium led by Webuild, the former Salini construction giant participated by Cdp and banks ( Unicredit sold its shares in recent days with a large capital gain ).
With the procedure which now, from the tables of the Anti-Corruption Authority, directly risks ending up on the desk of the Prosecutor's Office of the Ligurian capital, with the documents also being transmitted to the Court of Auditors. In a nutshell, according to Anac too many anomalies and variations were granted to Webuild exclusively to favor it, writes Il Sole 24 ore reporting the decisions of the authority chaired by Giuseppe Busia.
TOO MANY FAVORITISM AT WEBUILD?
“Genoa Dam, gift in sight for Webuild: here is the 350 million variant without tender”, was the headline a few days ago, while the Anti-Corruption file was traveling quickly towards the Prosecutor's Office, Il Fatto Quotidiano . “If for the first tranche of 950 million it was spared the hassle of a tender, WeBuild could now obtain the second phase of the construction works of the new breakwater of the port of Genoa (valued at 350 million and currently not financed) without even participating in a negotiated procedure as in that case", the newspaper edited by Marco Travaglio noted venomously.
WHAT IS THE GENOA BACKGROUND DAM
But what is this maxi public work worth 1.3 billion and what is it for, financed with Next Generation Eu money for post-pandemic reconstruction? On the Webuild website we read: "New breakwater in Genoa: a unique project in the world". And, still “the deepest in Europe”. The builder's virtual brochure explains: “The New Breakwater of Genoa is an impressive and unique work of its kind from an engineering point of view: its base will rest on seabeds up to a record depth of 50 meters and in its final configuration it will reach a total length of 6,200 meters".
And again: “To create the base, 7 million tons of rock material will be used, on which prefabricated reinforced concrete elements composed of almost 100 cellular caissons will be positioned. The caissons will measure up to 33 meters high (like a ten-storey building), 35 meters wide and 67 meters long”.
“The new dam – explains the manufacturer – will allow large container ships, over 400 meters long and 60 meters wide, and “World Class” cruise ships to enter the port of Genoa. The works will be divided into two phases: in the first phase, which will end in 2026, the new entrance from the east will be built, over 300 meters wide, and the maneuvering space for ships will be extended. In the second phase, which will be completed in 2030, the expansion of the Sampierdarena canal will be completed, which will reach a width of 400 metres, thus increasing the operation and competitiveness of all the terminals of the historic commercial basin".
THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Those who follow the matter, which has been at stake for more than 24 months of intense exchanges of letters between the controller and the controlled, know well that Anac had already contested seven critical findings from the Port System Authority of the Ligurian Sea which, considering the responses evidently insufficient by those interviewed, they went on to give substance to fifty pages of resolution no. 142/2024, transforming themselves into actual indictments, with the configuration of possible waste of money (hence the transmission of the file to the Court of Auditors) and illicit of various nature (this is why the Prosecutor's Office will investigate).
But, above all, with the risk that the EU Commission, which by will of the "Frugal Four" in the construction of the Next Generation Eu had claimed for itself the so-called "emergency brake" as an exceptional control system on the methods of use of the States of community funds, pull that infamous lever blocking everything, with cascading repercussions on other works and on the country's economy in what is certainly not an easy economic period.
After having reaffirmed its competence to examine the project, ANAC naturally returns to the exceptions resulting from having included the work in the so-called Genoa decree (that is, the one for the reconstruction in record time of the viaduct over the Polcevera which collapsed on 14 August 2018) without the conditions of the law being met "which concerned works to be built in an emergency due to the collapse of the Morandi bridge (substantially road restoration works)" and therefore concluding that "the exceptions provided for by the aforementioned legislation (Genoa decree) were deemed not applicable to the dam".
WHAT URGENCY WAS FORECAST IN THE 2010 PROGRAMMING
But Anac also disputes its inclusion among the works of the Pnrr which allowed the Genoa dam to benefit from other exemptions, those from the contract code pursuant to Legislative Decree 77/21 with the assignment of the work in a negotiated procedure without a tender, exception valid only in cases of maximum urgency, which however the counterparty has so far failed to document. “This is also in consideration of the fact – underlined by the authority. that the work had been planned for some time and had in fact been included in the programming dating back to 2010”.
In this regard, the responsibility of the Commissioner will have to be ascertained since "the contracting authority should have provided an explanation of the reasons that would have led it to prefer the negotiated procedure without notice, given that the Legislator has given the extraordinary Commissioners with derogating powers the mere faculty and certainly not an obligation to use the negotiated procedure without a notice and only where the conditions exist".
Retracing the process, Anac also contests the notice which was abandoned after the expression of interest from two companies and after which however they insisted on not launching the tender. The big issue of the failure to adjust prices and the ongoing change in contractual conditions also comes to the attention of the judicial authorities. “The contracting authority – Anac notes – has in fact, in an irregular manner, satisfied the requests formulated by the competitors which concerned relevant aspects of the procurement contract, including the methods of accounting for the consideration and price revision and a modification of the contract originally basis of the tender in relation to the possibility of making variations due to geological "uncertainty".
In short, Anac does not like at all the concession to WeBuild to foresee that "if – following the execution of the new surveys and test fields necessary for the drafting of the Final and/or Executive Project – the need arises to make changes to the project and /or to the operational methods of execution of the Work, such modifications will be considered as variations". This is because for the Anti-Corruption "the chances that the geotechnical and geological characteristics prove to differ from the predictions of the Pfte (Technical and Economic Feasibility Project) are very high, practically certain, even if it is not known to what extent".
A variant that had not convinced even the Superior Council of Public Works, as reported in the resolution, which in an opinion had set as an "essential condition to be fulfilled, before the awarding phase" the "preparation of a detailed performance specification, which allows effectively manage the subsequent development phase of the project with the creation of the test fields".
Not even the board of experts which the Anac recalls was "replaced due to incompatibility of its members – we read -. This replacement took place after the opening of the envelopes containing the technical and economic offers in conflict with the principles of transparency, level playing field and publicity of public tenders".
And then there is a case of "possible conflict of interests of the engineer Marco Rettighieri , who was previously responsible for the implementation of the extraordinary program, which also includes the dam covered by the contract (appointed by the commissioner for reconstruction as well as mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci ) and subsequently became president of the Board of Directors of WeBuild Italia spa, a company belonging to the Webuild Spa group and representative of the group that won the contract".
DOES PALAZZO CHIGI STUDY THE WEBUILD DOSSIER?
Alongside the Genoa dam dossier, Start Magazine learns from government circles that sectors of the Prime Minister's Office are evaluating the governance of Webuild, considered by some to be unbalanced in favor of the company head. Yet the group's shareholder agreements were renewed in recent days . It is not known whether the structure and moves of the group headed by the CEO, Pietro Salini, are in the direction expected or desired by those in the government who scrutinize ( including the Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto ).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/pnrr-perche-lanac-delude-webuild-sulla-diga-di-genova/ on Wed, 27 Mar 2024 09:30:36 +0000.