AS Roma General Manager Mauro
Baldissoni said Sunday night that the club would press on with a
plan to build a new stadium in southern Rome despite Saturday's
heritage superintendency ruling that a former horseracing venue
on the site should be preserved because of its historical
architectural value.
Announcing a likely appeal to the Lazio regional court
(TAR), Baldissoni said "we're going ahead on this plan that will
see an overall investment of 2 billion euros and will cut Rome's
jobless rate by 0.8%.
He said some 60 million euros had already been put into the
project.
Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi, who had OK'd a scaled-down version
of the original plan but said the administration would respect
the superintendency's decision, is set to meet the leader of her
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), Beppe Grillo, later
Monday.
Grillo is expected to press her to renew support for the
project despite protests from M5S grass roots who say it is an
excuse for rampant building speculation.
The million-cubic-metre project envisages three skyscrapers
as well as a shops and office complex.
Last week Raggi met with Roma officials and said she would
not stand in the way of a revised project, 20% scaled down in
volume.
The race course at the Tor Di Valle site dates back to 1962.
Baldissoni, in vowing to get past the superintendency's
ruling, said the site was "decrepit and full of asbestos".
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