Pnrr, Matteo Salvini’s promise: “Projects ready for all backgrounds”

The Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini, in an interview with journalists, talks about the progress of the European plan for recovery and resilience, clearing the field of rumors of delays in investment programs. “The dowry for my Dicastery is 39.9 billion euros. I can spend it all. There are some projects, such as the installation of the Ermts signaling system, which cannot be completed within the Pnrr deadline, due to lack of supply of materials. However, non-compliance with the objectives due to external causes can be recovered simply by transferring the money to other works».

A wish already expressed to Minister Fitto. “We have more than 100 projects ready. To counteract the dispersion of water, for example, they have already been prepared to the value of one billion», explained the leader of the League who added «we can intervene throughout Italy to reduce the waste of water and make sewers more efficient. Then the point at the Strait of Ponte dello. «The first car and the first train will pass through there in 2032. That’s what the engineers tell me, and I trust them. I am a politician and I have to ensure the funding and the whole administrative process. What goes on. I already had the first substantial meeting about the project with the new CEO and president of the company that will take care of the construction, together with the CEO of Ferrovie dello Stato, Ferraris and Anas», explained Salvini. Who drew up the calendar, with the setting, month by month, of the steps to be taken for the start of the first work in the summer of 2024. In short, we moved forward without delay and with the consent of the European Union. “I had a meeting with those responsible for the euro and I can say that their reactions to illustrating the work were enthusiastic” commented the head of the Infrastructure department who also added that within a few days he will appoint the commission of nine super specialists who will advise and support to engineers from the construction consortium. «I still don’t have the names but they will be the best professors and technicians in engineering, structural engineers, hydraulics. In short, the best in the science of building bridges”, he added. As for who will carry it out, the problem of preventing the entry of extra-community groups, such as the Chinese, often motivated to participate in projects of this type for geopolitical reasons , is resolved from the outset. “One of the first interested parties to come forward was China. Which, however, could only watch because the EU tender for the contract was held and won over ten years by a group of Italian companies , Japanese, Spanish and with the advice of the Americans».

Salvini also focused on the new highway code. In particular, after confirming that it will be a bill and not a decree, he anticipated some changes. «We are thinking about road safety courses at school, serious and not recreational, and with school points awarded to those who attend them. Then, the reinforcement of sanctions with life imprisonment for the license for repeat offenders, and mandatory speed limiters, arrows, number plate, arrow and helmet for scooters. Means for which the ban on circulating on extra-urban roads is maintained”. For bicycles, for which the same restrictive treatment is excluded, a ban on overtaking cars will be introduced if there is not a minimum space of one and a half meters.

Another chapter is that of speed cameras. “There will be a model approved for all of Italy to eliminate the uncalibrated ones found in many municipalities”. We are also thinking about the “alcolock”, a mechanism that blocks the engine from starting if the driver has consumed alcohol, more money for the maintenance of guardrails to protect motorcyclists, and greater control over who uses cell phones in all vehicles, bicycles and motorcycles included. Salvini spared no criticism of the president of the anti-corruption authority, Busia, who said on the bridge: “We detected an imbalance in the relationship between the public grantor and the private one, to the detriment of the public, on which most of the risks end up being transferred”. The head of Carroccio said: “With the resumption of works, the State is saving a billion euros. There are no particular favors. Space also for the dossier of the European elections. “There are many European centre-right parties, in Poland, Portugal and Spain, which can bring an important electoral result. If they get stronger, on June 9, 2024 the axis of the European government can be moved because the popular ones can decide to leave the socialists. So the current debate about no to Orbán, no to the Afd Germans and Le Pen seems murky. You can’t miss a historic opportunity by excluding some forces now.”