THE EAGLE. The amount that the Municipality of L’Aquila has budgeted for the replacement bus service from Fonte Cerreto to Campo Imperatore amounts to 208 thousand euros. Indispensable service to make up for the closure of the cable car due to the replacement of the supporting cables. This can be read in a management decision of the public transport sector with which the service is entrusted to Ama. As a preventive measure, the Gran Sasso Tourist Center was asked for a report from which it was possible to identify how many and what the users needed for rides and the relative hourly frequency. The report from the tourist center arrived last April 17th and, at that point, the AMA presented the estimate which envisages a cost of approximately 962 euros per day to make 4 daily trips, from Monday to Friday, 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon, and the daily sum of 1,915 euros per day for Saturdays and holidays for 6 pairs of trips, 3 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon, in the period up to next September 30th. A service, this, which will still be paid for by users (8 euros return for weekdays and 9 for holidays).
In the meantime, the Municipality had asked Ansfisa, the National Agency for the safety of railways, road and motorway infrastructures, for an extension to the operation of the Gran Sasso cable car to allow the completion of all the preparatory procedures for carrying out the replacement of the 4 load-bearing ropes, work that will cost the municipal body 4 million euros. After Ansfisa’s no, the Municipality had appealed to the TAR, followed by an appeal to the Council of State. In the meantime, the Municipality has prepared a market research for the planning of the replacement of the ropes. The assignment of the service to AMA, we read in the decision, is on an “experimental basis”, as the number of trips, times and dates may vary depending on the flows. Obviously, the replacement service will be stopped in the event that Ansfisa recognizes the extension requested by the Municipality.
THE CASE OF THE ROPES
The cable car was stopped after critical issues emerged regarding one of the 4 load-bearing cables during the scheduled five-year overhaul. In a recent meeting at the Ministry of Transport, the Municipality had at least obtained the possibility of bringing forward the general overhaul of the system, scheduled for 2028. In the managerial decision on the assignment of the replacement service there is no mention of any compensation that could derive from the resulting savings since the cable car stopped, while, in particular for seasonal employees, a long period of lean times is predicted.
DE MATTEIS ATTACKS Biondi
“For months we have been asking the mayor to meet with us to give a decisive change of pace to the city administration’s action,” he says in a note Giorgio De Matteis, deputy provincial secretary of Forza Italia, «identifying a series of problems to be tackled decisively. Above all, the situation of municipal companies. Biondi flitted here and there avoiding confrontation with Forza Italia. Today those problems are still all on the table, in particular the Gran Sasso tourist centre, an emblematic example of the lack of lucidity and political-administrative strategy. If the Council of State were to confirm the Municipality’s losing position, months will pass between the execution of the tender and the completion of the works with further damage to the detriment of the CTGS, which would see the next winter season lost. And AMA’s solution will lead to a further increase in costs unless the Region intervenes.”
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