«I don’t want to get into political disputes or squabbles, it’s not in my nature. However, it is sad to note that after months of debates on the SEZs, presentations, conferences, projects and activities planned or even already started, we find ourselves taking a sensational step backwards which actually takes us back to the starting point. Back when the Special Zones were still an idea or an empty container.”
This is what the president of Sicindustria Palermo Giuseppe Russello states, who adds: «I remind myself that in the month of September, in the wake of the enthusiasm for the change of pace recorded, I made the premises of my company available to host a conference in which we talked about concrete interventions to redevelop the industrial area of Carini. Be careful, we are not talking about having three-lane motorways, but about urgent and necessary works that we have been requesting for years, since the areas potentially used to attract investments are currently devoid of essential services and characterized by an absolute inadequacy of infrastructure. On that occasion we were assured that the tender would take place by December. Today, however, we learn that these works risk being postponed further or, worse, not starting at all. I repeat, we entrepreneurs are not interested in there being the Zes brand or the flag of a political party, we would just like to see the construction sites open and the minimum amount of works necessary to be able to say that the area in which we operate has at least the semblance of a industrial center and related services.
Considering that, as the regional government has assured us, the resources are available, I don’t understand why we persist in waiting to get the contracting authority up and running and to start the tender. It would be enough to revoke the act which gave the Zes the task, establishing a services conference and entrusting the role of contracting authority to Irsap.
Soon, among other things, the new regional price list will be approved and the projects will necessarily have to undergo a downward remodulation. Every month lost between squabbles and regulatory changes that are at times incomprehensible, given that the Zes had begun to get going and bring results, is enormous damage to the territory and to the companies that persist in investing in these latitudes. And the risk, unfortunately, is that while the doctor (politics) argues or studies how to change even the things that work, the patient (in this case businesses) goes away. At best, to invest elsewhere.”
