Words of mutual appreciation, smiles and handshakes, between the pleased looks of the majority councilors and city councilors and – understandable given that they are leaders of the League – some of the opposition. This is enough to spark controversy over the hug between the mayor Rinaldo Melucci and the minister Matteo Salvini. The occasion: the inauguration of the first construction site for the Brt linethe fast bus line that should shorten the distances between the city center and the suburbs.
Salvini, as transport minister, participated in via Acton, near the Local Police Commandat the cutting of the ribbon of the first work, the construction site of the rolling stock depot intended for Bus Rapid Transit.
«I’m happy – said the minister – because it is the largest investment in mobility, is the largest contract for citizens that changes the lives of workers, students and commuters. Having non-polluting electric buses that unite the city’s neighborhoods and whose first passengers will board the bus as early as 2025 with theivories completed in 2026means giving a concrete, immediate answer for the serious protection of the environment, not the protection of the environment that someone perhaps from Brussels imposes with bans, limitations, regulations. With this intervention there will therefore be a way eco-friendly to move, to travel, to unite the city. This is a fully funded intervention. So for me it’s a nice way to start the day.”
The minister then focused on the other transport problems that afflict Taranto: from the deficits of the railway network to the terrible Statale 100: «We spoke with the mayor about how we can intervene, then we also spoke on the issue ofairport and the railway. As for the State 100, just last week I met the citizens of a committee at the Ministry, after the nine deaths in five months. The Statale 100 dossier is on my desk, absolutely open with the technicians and with Anas. We’re trying to figure out how avoid these massacres. Let’s say, however, that perhaps in recent years not everyone has paid great attention to Taranto and the people of Taranto, because Taranto, even for the major national press, and not just for the local press, is Ilva. For me Taranto is not a problem, Taranto can be a solution and Ilva can also return to being a solution for workers but above all for the country. I am inaugurating, designing and financing construction sites and I need steel and I would like it Italian steel. I would hate to build bridges with steel that comes from somewhere else.”
Pressed by journalists, Salvini also responded on political-judicial events of Liguria and Puglia: «The important thing is that the investigations do not block the development of cities.”
For his part, Melucci had words of praise for the government: «This is a very important day 300 million investment it will change the face of the city. We have to finance the link for theSan Cataldo hospital and we will get to work with the ministry technicians. The economic model of this city will change, starting with the reconversion of the industrial area. This was what we had in mind from the beginning.” Mayor finally underlined the integration between the Mattei Plani Mediterranean Games and the Mediterranean Biennial: «The government is demonstrating that it has a precise idea of this city for a future that is not just a steel monoculture».
Words which immediately sparked controversy on the part of the centre-left.
