The Cerro Maggiore swimming pool is taking great steps towards temporary closure: after the Milan Court of Appeal confirmed the dissolution of the concession contract for the management of the municipal swimming pool, Wednesday 29 May NAM (Nuoto Alto Milanese), current manager of the swimming facility, will in fact cease the service.
«Already with the provision of May 3rd the municipal administration has ordered us to release the swimming center free of all movable property by May 10 – explains Francesca Cremonesi, sole director of NAM -. At NAM’s request, the Municipality, with a provision dated May 8, postponed the deadline for release to May 31. In order to comply with the provision, we will have to cease service on May 29th».
While preparing to leave the plant in via Boccaccio, NAM is also thinking about refunds for subscriptions that cannot be used by users, who will contact you directly. The “swimming pool affair”, however, in Cerro Maggiore is far from closed: the outgoing manager, in fact, has brought it to the table at Palazzo Dell’Acqua – which in the meantime is “constantly monitoring the situation to study the most suitable and fast in order to limit inconvenience and guarantee a new continuous service” – a proposal aimed at continuing the management of the plant.
«On 17 May – adds Cremonesi – we renewed the settlement proposal formulated several times to the administration allow NAM to continue managing the swimming centre following the payment by NAM to the Municipality of 1,700,000 euros – naturally in installments, NAM has no other revenues other than those from the swimming pool – in addition to the concession fees and the NAM’s waiver of any compensation and the right to appeal the sentence. To date, no response has been received.”
Net of management, however, for NAM the economic issue also remains to be resolved. «The sentence of the Court of Appeal of Milan, unlike the first instance one, recognized NAM the right to receive compensation from the Municipality in the event of the release of the swimming center – underlines the sole director of NAM -: compensation which, according to the sentence, cannot be less than 1.5 million euros; in our opinion the compensation is equal to approximately 1.9 million euros. Therefore, the Municipality will not be able to request from NAM the entire amount that, as guarantor of NAM, it paid to the Istituto del Credito Sportivo1.7 million euros, but, at most, around 200 thousand euros.”
Meanwhile, concern for the future is growing among the pool’s employees, who launched a petition to “avoid the closure” of the plant. «We have been employees for many years, fond of both the structure and of course also the users – we read in the text of the petition -. The Cerro Maggiore swimming pool is a point of reference for our community, offering a safe and healthy place for swimming and other aquatic and non-aquatic activities. Not only the closure of the swimming pool it would leave many without workbut it would also deprive citizens of a fundamental space for physical and social well-being. The swimming pool is frequented by people of all ages, from children to the elderly, and is essential for maintaining an active lifestyle. Furthermore, it offers educational and therapeutic programs that cannot be easily replaced. We ask the Municipality of Cerro Maggiore and the competent authorities to find an alternative solution to closing our swimming pool as soon as possible».
