Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi told
parliament's anti-mafia commission on Wednesday that a service
to collect large items of trash in the capital had been
suspended before she took office in June.
She was commenting after being ridiculed for suggesting
the large number of fridges and items of furniture dumped in the
Rome streets was suspicious.
Critics accused her of conjuring up non-existent plots to
discredit her and said it was no surprise the large items of
trash were on the streets given the service to collect them is
not operative.
"The service to collect large rubbish was stopped on June
18, before the second round (of voting for the city elections).
No one knows the reason," said the mayor, whose executive has
been hit by some major teething troubles as it seeks to address
major problems in trash management, public transport and several
other areas.
"We are working to reactivate it with a new tender
competition.
"You tell me if it's normal for a service to suddenly be
stopped".
Raggi, a member of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement,
told the commission that she wanted the private sector to be
excluded from the management of the capital's trash.
"We want to eliminate the private enterprises that make
money from the refuse cycle," said Raggi.
"We want (trash company) AMA to own the plants. This is
discontinuity with the past".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
