Transport Minister Paola De Micheli
said Wednesday that motorway company Autostrade per l'Italia
(ASPI) is to run the new Genoa bridge replacing one that
collapsed killing 43 people in August 2018, but added that the
issue of revoking its concessions was still on the table.
"The new Morandi Bridge will be run by Autostrade," De Micheli
told Radio 24.
"Management goes to the concessionary, which is today ASPI, but
there is still the hypothesis of revocation over the affair".
Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti was among those slamming the
decision.
"Two years of baying for blood, roaring, gritting teeth,
rattling handcuffs and threats have produced what you might have
imagined from the start," he said.
"That is, the fact that the motorway concession is still there,
the investments have not been made, the controls started late
and the bridge is returned to those who still have the
concession despite the government's hot air".
The government has said since the August 15 2018 disaster that
it may revoke the license of ASPI, which is controlled by the
Benetton-led Atlantia group.
Deputy Industry Minister Stefano Buffagni said that the decision
to give the bridge to ASPI for the moment at least had been
taken "not in my name".
"Putting things off does not mean solving them," he said.
"You always have to pay the bill, which is dear, in the end.
Citizens elected us to change and to decide and not to have "the
sad soul of those who lived without infamy or praise," he said
quoting Dante's Inferno line about "the lukewarm or cowardly
souls who never committed themselves to any cause".
Writing on Twitter, Buffagni used the hashtags #NotInMyName and
#DitchTheBenettons.
Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede, of the 5-Star Movement (M5S)
which has led calls to strip ASPi of the concession, said a
decision on the motorway license must be taken "by the end of
this week".
He said "the government has worked ceaselessly on the motorway
concessions. After reaching a very important result, with the
new Morandi Bridge built in less than two years, now the time
has come to decide, if possible by the end of this week".
The new bridge, built in record time for Italy, was designed by
Genoa native and starchitect Renzo Piano.
It features 'sails', reflecting the northwestern port city's
maritime heritage.
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