Lupi pledges funds for Milan Expo transport needs

(ANSA) - Milan, September 19 - The Italian transport minister this week promised to locate funding necessary to reinforce mass transport during Milan Expo 2015 on off hours. Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi thus plucked a thorn he had planted Monday when he suggested that the city was on its own for digging up 40 million euros requested by Milan's public transport company ATM to service metros and ground transport to keep the food-themed world fair serviced at night throughout its run from May to October next year.
    The 100-hectare Expo site is located just outside of the city limits near the massive Rho-Pero exhibition centre. Lupi promised "The commitment of everyone, the (Italian) government and the City of Milan, until the services are provided in the best possible way, including identifying resources".
    Lupi promised that together with Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, "We will confront and resolve the problem of financing".
    The remarks offered an olive branch after Lupi had dug in his heels Monday declaring the transport challenge a "moral duty for the entire city" and calling on the ATM to "get into gear".
    "It's been known for years that Expo was coming. And so ATM needs to get into gear, get organized to welcome visitors. It's not as though it can only do that only if the money arrives".
    On Tuesday, Lupi said, "We have cleared things up with Pisapia. There is no spirit of dispute".
    "For a long time, we have made requests that were already considered reasonable, just and rightful for an event that is not just Milanese but national," said Pisapia. "The minister had not been informed, and I am sorry for that," added the Milan mayor. While transport preparations took a turn toward readiness, Milan Expo 2015 Commissioner Giuseppe Sala this week expressed relief at progress at the world fair's construction site. "I am not worried about pavilion construction. I was (worried) until a few months ago. Now there are various degrees of advancement and only a very limited number of countries are delayed. The majority are working fine," said Sala.
    The exhibition site progress was surveyed this week by the general secretary of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Vincente Loscertales, in Milan for an informal meeting of EU transport ministers, who weighed in on the importance the Italian pavilion must be given at Expo.
    Loscertales said the Italian pavilion "will be the emblem of the exposition and all the visitors will go to see it. Its success is that of Expo's, and if visitors are not happy (with it), the Italians in particular, Expo will be nothing".
    Loscertales added that from a presentation on the pavilion's progress, he "knows that construction is going well and its content does not seem to be a problem".