The two top executives of Rome
city transport company ATAC formally resigned this morning, ANSA
learned on Thursday.
Marco Rettighieri quit as general manager and Armando
Brandolese left his post as CEO.
Rettighieri told ANSA yesterday he was mulling his
resignation because the 18 million euros he requested from City
Hall for urgent maintenance on the city's Metro A line have not
materialized.
"Am I thinking about quitting? Yes. Why should I stay if
the conditions aren't there?" he said, following a row with City
Hall and newly seated Mayor Virginia Raggi from the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.
In a letter to city cabinet member for transportation Linda
Meleo, Rettighieri stated that the 18 million euros he asked for
to fix the aging trains "are not available, because the City of
Rome never made the wire transfer".
The manager also complained about "outside interference" in
personnel transfers.
"The repositioning of people within a company must not be
influenced by outside interference in any way," he wrote.
Rettighieri has been saying since early August he will
resign unless the 18 million are found.
If the work is not carried out, travellers can expect to
see a gradual reduction in the number of trains serving the
line, which would translate into delays and congestion when
schools and offices reopen after the summer break in September.
Meleo has replied that the city council is at work to
prevent a reduction in Metro A service.
"We'll succeed in avoiding this risk," she said. "Our
objective is to guarantee service in the best possible way".
She added the situation is critical, "but everything is in
the works. Budget cabinet member (Marcello) Minenna is dealing
with it".
Raggi, who was elected in June, has made overhauling the
city's notoriously inefficient and accident-prone public
transport system one of the key points of her programme.
Minenna resigned yesterday.
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