Will the Pnrr stop the hydrogeological instability?
Government and parliament have the opportunity to use Pnrr funds to restore Italy from hydrogeological instability. Federico Guiglia's notebook
Sink the knife into controversy or take the shovel by the handle and do the right thing? Go in search of original faults or lost time? In short, continue to hold responsibility for at least thirty years of political-institutional inertia or take a cue from the landslide in Ischia to change the tune and finally secure all the areas of the national territory at risk?
The government is at a crossroads and Parliament is also presented with an unrepeatable opportunity in the wake of the water and mud that has overwhelmed the inhabitants and houses of Casamicciola and its surroundings: that of using the large resources provided for in the PNRR, the Italian plan of recovery, to restore the country from the serious hydrogeological instability that has tormented it in too many areas and for too long. There is talk of an amount of 2.5 billion euros which have been made available for direct investments to protect the territory and water resources. A precise and timed commitment. The Plan, in fact, establishes that, in order to make 1.5 million citizens in danger today safe, all public contracts for the interventions must be awarded by December next year. And by March 2026 these works must be completed.
Therefore, in 4 years Italy could have largely cured its endemic pathology: run for cover after the disaster has occurred, rather than work to prevent it. Then there are another 6 billion for municipalities, even small ones, to restore the territory. A great opportunity not to be wasted, in defiance of the political clash over illegal activity and its patrons taking turns with amnesties or failed killings: a matter for the judiciary, which will have to ascertain and punish such an evident violation of the rules.
"In jail the mayor or whoever lets it build", attacks the Minister of the Environment, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, raising a fuss. “I, on the other hand, want to protect the mayors, freeing them from bureaucracy”, is the reaction of the Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini. Who, like other exponents also of the opposition (“vulgar indifference of the Minister of the Environment”, accuses Francesco Boccia of the Pd), invites not to make the mayors the scapegoats of the affair. Meanwhile, the Minister for Civil Protection, Nello Musumeci, is asking for a "radical review" of the amnesties.
But the PNRR is the most powerful weapon. Even some controversy.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/pnrr-dissesto-idrogeologico/ on Thu, 01 Dec 2022 06:33:14 +0000.