LAMEZIA TERME – The roadshow entitled “Infrastructure and intermodality: competitive levers for Calabrian entrepreneurs” took place today, Thursday 28 March, starting at 10.00 am, at the Unioncamere Calabria headquarters in Lamezia Terme, an event to present the results of the Project of the Infrastructure Equalization Fund 2021-2022, promoted and organized by Unioncamere Calabria and the Calabrian Chambers of Commerce.
During the event, the update of the “Regional White Book of the infrastructural priorities of the entrepreneurial system of Calabria – 2023 Edition” created in collaboration with Uniontrasporti, the results of an important survey carried out among almost 800 Calabrian companies belonging to the sectors of manufacturing and transport and logistics on issues relating to logistics costs, energy needs and tools for attracting investments and finally a “Study on the accessibility of the Calabrian airport system with private and public transport” developed by the University of Calabria,
Department of Civil Engineering on behalf of Unioncamere Calabria-Uniontrasporti, in order to identify critical issues and potential to better promote the mobility of people and goods.
Antonino Tramontana, President of Unioncamere Calabria, introduced the proceedings of the event, with institutional greetings.
«I am pleased to preside over today which marks the end of the second year of the 2021-2022 FdP project focused on the theme of infrastructure, which undoubtedly represents a transversal strategic lever to support the economic development of the entire region. During the works we presented the second edition of the White Paper on the infrastructural priorities of the entrepreneurial system of Calabria –
says Tramontana – a study which involved monitoring the progress of the 12 priority interventions defined in the 2022 edition, noting the critical implementation issues on at least 5 interventions, as well as a focus on the works considered most urgent, “undeferrable”, in function of an acceleration of the dynamics of economic, social and tourist growth. Specifically, this concerns the strengthening of the port of Gioia Tauro, the development
of the tourist and commercial ports as a whole, the improvement of the accessibility of the regional airport system, the extension of the high speed up to Reggio Calabria, the modernization of the SS 106 and the adaptation of the Ionian railway line, with speeding up interventions and electrification”.
This was then followed by the speech of the Regional Councilor for Social Policies and Transport Emma Staine. «We are working hard on the topic of transport to recover an important gap that we inherited from previous governments – comments Emma Staine – the President of the Regional Council is in close synergy with Minister Salvini who with an inter-ministerial decree identified the sections of the Sibari axis- Catanzaro of the road
state road 106 Jonica to be financed with the 3 billion euros allocated in the 2023 budget law. The resources to support the development of the regional transport system have never been lacking, but it is the will of this regional government to invest them in the best direction to obtain objective results. The Bridge over the Strait – continues Emma Staine – represents a driving force for the economy of Calabria and of Italy as a whole, just think that if for the Lombardy region the positive impact would lead to an increase in GDP of 1%, for the
Calabria it would be an increase of 20 percentage points. The same Local Public Transport (TPL) service contract, stuck 30 years ago, is now more onerous because the regional territory is considered the “end of the line”; with the construction of the bridge over the Strait, however, an estimated saving of 5 to 10 million euros would be achieved every year. Net of all considerations, our commitment therefore ranges from the realization of the major infrastructural work, to the creation of an application to digitalize the transport system, to the planning of timetables based on rail and road, to the updating
of service contract tenders”.
According to the analysis of the data that formed the framework for the survey, carried out by Uniontrasporti, the manufacturing and transport and logistics companies operating in Calabria see an average incidence of logistics costs of around 22% of the total of company turnover, compared to an estimated national average of around 8%. This data, substantially homogeneous within all the territories of the region (fluctuates between
16% for Crotone and Vibo Valentia, and 26% for Catanzaro), is much more marked among transport operators (reaching 46%). In general, logistics costs in 2022 were significantly increasing on a trend basis (comparison with 2021), this is the case for over 73% of companies in Calabria which specifically experienced an average increase in costs of +26%. compared to the previous year.
From the study prepared by the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Calabria, important critical issues emerge in terms of accessibility to the three Calabrian airports both by private means of transport and by LPT on road and rail, mainly due to infrastructural deficiencies, the lack of modal integration and tariffs and the almost total absence of adequate user information systems. On the other hand, a strong potential emerges from all three airports in the region supported by the tourist vocation of the Calabrian territory
which can be developed by enhancing the historical, cultural, naturalistic and food and wine heritage of Calabria and adapting the accommodation facilities and airport infrastructures to serve passengers arriving at Calabrian airports.
«Calabria can recover the development delay accumulated over the decades – says Rosanna Guzzo, Uniontrasporti – also by equipping itself with a transport system in step with global challenges that allows it to overcome its physical marginality compared to the country and exploit its central position in the Mediterranean. The analyzes carried out by Uniontrasporti with the updating of the KPIs describe an area that has wide margins for improvement
front of logistics and railways, but also of digital. Good performances were recorded, however, from the point of view of ports, with an indicator higher than the national average of 55%, and of energy, with Crotone eighth province in Italy, for the use of the energy it has available, taking especially renewable sources. The works loudly requested by Calabrian entrepreneurs serve them precisely to expand markets
of reference, to improve internal mobility and make the regional transport network more sustainable, safe and effective”.
