“Enough reassurances, we want the facts”

«What Italy’s transport will be like». An ambitious, challenging title, but which clashed with the inaction of the construction site of the Trento railway ring road. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini could not go on stage at the Teatro Sociale without having reassurances, especially a few weeks before the European elections. Rumors say that he asked “the impossible” of his “people” to speed up the dossier. And yesterday, in the end, he managed to arrive at the Festival with something in his hand. «RFI will allocate the necessary funds. The times will be respected: we will start by June”, declared the leader of the League. The construction site then (re)starts. «More than reassurances, we want measures», comments Trento councilor Ezio Facchin.
The activists protest
Salvini was the minister who opened the event, amidst the protests. As soon as he spoke, some Greenpeace activists booed him, displaying banners: “The climate changes, politics doesn’t.” Salvini’s reply was dry: “You are the ones who want electric cars produced in China where they burn coal to pollute less in Trento, you haven’t understood anything.” The activists were removed from the audience, made up almost exclusively of school children. Then, at the end of the meeting, the microphone was given to one of the protesters, who accused the minister of going against the ecological transition. Speech that received the first applause. There was then a brief back and forth, in which Salvini expressed his confidence in nuclear power.
The railway ring road
After the meeting, moderated by the director of Il Messaggero Alessandro Barbano, Salvini did not hold back from questions from the press. And he responded on some of the most important infrastructure projects for Trentino: from the bypass to the A22, up to the Rovereto-Riva railway.
As regards the bypass, the buildings were demolished and the Trento-Malè railway tracks were moved. Among the preparatory works, “only” the deviation of via Brennero and the excavations of the tunnel entrance, where the moles will be prepared, are missing. The work has not yet started. In recent weeks RFI (Italian railway network) has spoken of a one-year delay compared to the timetable.
But yesterday Salvini reassured us about the times. «We are within the roadmap – he stated – The objective is to start by June». Therefore, within next month the construction site should restart the engines, for the Mattarello entrance in particular. «I spoke with the CEO of RFI: tomorrow (today, ed.) there is a board of directors to allocate the necessary money. I continue to believe that it is a fundamental work for Trento and for Trentino: the deadlines will be respected, the funding is there.”
The technical knot, entirely bureaucratic and internal to the ministry, would have been resolved. The Municipality of Trento, however, is not satisfied with words. «More than reassurances, we are waiting for measures – says the mobility councilor Facchin – We hope that there is space to catch up».
The A22 and the Rovereto-Riva railway
There is also a wait for the renewal of the A22 concession. The Autostrada del Brennero company has advanced a 7.2 billion public-private partnership project. The tender should be announced within the year in which the company would have the right of first refusal. «There will be a competition, may the best win. I hope that it will be resolved quickly”, declared the minister. That “may the best man win” has cooled optimism, even if the club doesn’t say it’s worried.
Finally, the minister also responded on the Rovereto-Riva railway: «We are working on the design with RFI: you can’t do everything at once. It would be a useful work from an economic and environmental point of view.”