WASHINGTON: The Italian government is set to finance the construction of the Port of Genoa’s new seawall, a project that will cost about €1 billion overall, according to Infrastructure Minister Graziano Delrio. The enlargement is necessary to allow easy access for big modern container ships into Italy’s main port and ensure that the country has a harbor at the same level of those in Northern Europe. In the meantime, China’s interest for the port system in the surrounding region of Liguria is becoming more concrete, Delrio said. “All the goods operators want to get as close as possible to their destination: so the Chinese, aside from historic Venice, are looking for another mooring place that allows them to quickly reach Southern Europe,” he said. “It is clear that the Ligurian ports are at the center of their interest: we talked about them when we visited the Chinese government with President Sergio Mattarella, we talked about them several times, also I did personally, and it seems to me that this interest is becoming more concrete.” During a high level meeting on logistics in Northwestern Italy that took place in Genoa, Delrio met the regional governors of Ligura, Piedmont and Lombardy: Giovanni Toti, Sergio Chiamparino and Roberto Maroni. Since last year when the first edition of the gathering was held, the presidents have formed a steering committee for logistical infrastructure in the Northwest, the industrial heart of Italy.
The three governors signed a document with which they express the “common will to contribute” to the Ferrobonus 2017-2019 incentive scheme, which is in a final phase of approval, “to strengthen the use of railways between the Ligurian ports and the Piedmont and Lombardy hinterland,” said Delrio. The minister signed a protocol of intent with Toti and regional port authorities aimed at the development of the Ligurian ports. This document expresses intent to earmark resources for the new seawall of Genoa, proposing it among the national projects which are eligible for financing “within the EU-China connectivity platform.”“When the project is ready, the seawall of Genoa will be financed,” said Delrio. “We have the availability of the Cassa depositi e prestiti (CDP) to build an ad hoc fund for financing the port works: a fund for the ports because they are central in our view. Therefore, we are ready to get going straightway and widen the first opening of the seawall in the Sampierdarena zone, and then construct the rest. We know that this work is strategic for the competitiveness of Genoa, and just as there will not be uncertainty around the connection for the third railway crossing, there must not be uncertainty when we identify a strategic infrastructure project for the future of our country. The moment we decide, the country has to move forward.” For the new seawall, with a cost estimated at €1 billion, port authorities in the Western Ligurian sea have already earmarked €10 million in the forecast budget, for the planning. Delrio then clarified that the work done with CDP “is nearing conclusion.” He added that the port fund “wants to put together public and private financing and give a constant support to port infrastructure works for the coming years. We are in an extremely advanced phase,” he said.