“The Meloni Government entrusts Imola with 15 million for the post-flood; and the Municipality spends just over 290 thousand euros. A mockery for the citizens”. It is the summary of Nicolas Vacchi, group leader of the Brothers of Italy in the City Council, who puts together the three ordinances through which the commissioner structure led by General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo in recent months has allocated (on the basis of the Municipality’s requests) the funds for reconstruction after the bad weather in May last year. This is money that the Piazza Matteotti institution, given the long time it takes to plan the interventions and open the tenders, has managed to spend only a minimal part, at least for the moment.
Through the first ordinance, number 6 of 2023 referring to urgent interventions, of the amount awarded by the Government, equal to 806 thousand euros, “the Municipality received funding and only used 292 thousand euros”, calculates Vacchi.
The second provision that ends up under the lens of the FdI exponent is ordinance number 13, also issued last year and referring to urgent interventions on road and road infrastructures. “Of the amount awarded by the Government, equal to 5.3 million, the Municipality has not used any amount, absolutely zero”, highlights Vacchi.
Ditto as regards the more substantial measure, namely ordinance number 19 issued by Figliuolo in January this year, referring to further urgent interventions also in light of the second wave of bad weather last November. This is a maxi-loan worth almost nine million, which includes the 8.5 million needed to secure the urban stretch of the Santerno river and for which the planning of the part of the intervention relating to the construction of the new wall guarding the Autodrome paddock.
“Of the amount awarded by the Government, the Municipality of Imola has not used any amount, still zero”, protests Vacchi, who for this reason speaks overall of “an embarrassing figure, especially after all the controversies raised by the Democratic Party and the lists crutch that in the city have done little or nothing effective for those affected by the flood”.
In short, the reading of Fratelli d’Italia is clear: “While the municipal administrations governed by the Democratic Party, first of all that of Imola with the mayor Marco Panieri, do not miss an opportunity to complain, without lifting a finger, the Government has allocated a lot of resources to the flood. The delayed or failed reimbursements – this is Vacchi’s analysis – are all attributable to the territorial administrative structures and the cumbersomeness of certain telematic platforms belonging to the Region”.
Yes because, in addition to the Municipality, the Council of President Stefano Bonaccini also ends up in FdI’s sights. “One year after the flood, the real estate (houses, cellars, garages) have not been reimbursed in time, and perhaps this is due to the inefficiency of the PD-led Region? Has it carried out its tasks on time? Has it done the mapping of the areas? Have you implemented the Sphinx platform?
And then again on the mayors: “Even though there is money available, why aren’t they using it to secure the territory? – asks the FdI group leader -. Why aren’t the Region and Municipality helping the Government by fulfilling their duties to ensure that everything works and that citizens have the funding? It seems that we are in a perpetual electoral campaign. The problem is that all this does not make us laugh, but cry.”
