VIAREGGIO. The work that has been blocked for months on the Terrace of the Republic is causing quite a few problems for the beach establishments in the area, in particular the Zara bathroom, which is located in the middle of a construction site with the entrances inaccessible to customers. A situation that becomes more and more difficult to manage day by day as summer approaches.
«We risk not opening the bathing establishment for next June – says the owner dejectedly Sandro Pontigia – we are helpless in the face of this situation and we no longer know what to do. The Municipality had assured us that the works would be finished on time, but instead everything is at a standstill.”
What is keeping the construction site blocked is the dispute between the company that was supposed to carry out the work and the municipal administration. «We find ourselves in the middle of this situation – adds Pontigia – which risks bringing us to our knees. Usually by this point of the year we had already opened the restaurant, but we can’t do that either. To enter our bathing establishment we must ask the courtesy of those next to us to let us pass. Does this seem normal to you? Not to mention the fact that in these conditions not even emergency vehicles could intervene in an emergency.”
Obviously there are economic consequences. «We have already received requests from our customers – underlines the owner of the Zara bathroom – who want a discount for having to live with this situation. In order to equip the beach in some way, which is not at all simple, given the conditions we are in, we also risked hurting ourselves, because to carry concrete umbrella stands that each weigh 35 kilos passing over the completely uneven pavement we risked pulling them on one foot. You can’t work in these conditions, but it seems that none of this interests anyone. The damage we are suffering is growing every day.”
It’s a very complicated period for the Zara bathroom. Last winter’s flood caused damage amounting to around 80 thousand euros «which the insurance did not reimburse us – underlines Pontigia – just as we did not receive a single euro of the funds intended for those who were affected by that disaster. We started the season with this figure in the red, if we add the fact that we were unable to open the restaurant even at Easter and above all that to this day we don’t know when we will be able to open the bathing establishment, it is easy to quantify the extent of the damage we are suffering.”
The construction site stopped when the workers of the company in charge of the work found an asbestos aqueduct pipe. «From there began this ordeal that we are helplessly enduring – concludes Pontigia – we only ask that an immediate solution be found, because we cannot risk compromising our summer season for responsibilities that are not ours. There are workers like us who are waiting for answers and who are also making sacrifices to try to cope with all this. We are also waiting for a signal from the Municipality, because the image that is provided in the height of the summer season of our city to the customers who have chosen to spend their holidays here with us is certainly not the best”.
