PRESS RELEASE OF 06 JUNE 2024
A few hours after the end of the electoral campaign, the President of Confcommercio Caltanissetta Enna Maurizio Prestifilippo addresses the candidates for mayor of Gela with the aim of involving all the political forces in the needs of entrepreneurs and offering those who will be elected suggestions on the priorities that would allow to ferry the City of Gela into the future.
«One of the basic needs to be able to contribute in a concrete way, through proposals and suggestions to those who will govern the City for the next 5 years, is dialogue and discussion – claims President Prestifilippo – Bilateral communication must be the starting point and the key principle on which a constructive and long-lasting relationship between the future Administration and the entrepreneurial fabric of the City will have to be based”.
«It is true that the next few years will be difficult for the Municipality of Gela due to the financial crisis – continues the President of Confcommercio Caltanissetta Enna – but the administrative machine, even if with greater difficulty, will have to have the ability to move forward with determination to pursue necessary growth and development objectives of a territory rich in unexpressed potential. We ask the next Mayor and the political forces that will govern Gela for a strong and decisive commitment to combat the commercial desertification that threatens the livability and welcome of the historic centre, which is now illuminated and popular because it is dotted with electoral committees, but which risks being emptied in the near future. following the elections. It is necessary to prepare an integrated project for the activities and small and medium-sized enterprises of the territory through active policies for the historic center, encouraging the establishment and opening of new trade and craft activities by using reductions in local taxation and also facilitating the strengthening of existing activities”.
«Confcommercio is the most representative trade association at a national level which brings together thousands of traders, artisans and professionals – underlines the President of Confcommercio Caltanissetta Enna – To better represent the needs of the category and create opportunities for development it is necessary to establish dialogue with the future municipal administration, beyond party lines and political ideologies. Whoever is called to administer Gela will find in Confcommercio Caltanissetta Enna an attentive and proactive interlocutor, a reliable and reliable source of ideas and suggestions. And this is the appeal we want to launch on the eve of the vote. The future mayor will have to make dialogue, discussion and consultation with trade associations prevail, without abandoning himself to the temptation of decision-making and entrenchment. The driving force of the Gelese economy, having archived the industrial experience, is determined by small entrepreneurs, by thousands of traders and artisans who offer services to the community and who guarantee to keep the hopes of relaunch alive”.
«We entrepreneurs – continues Maurizio Prestifilippo – every day we raise our shutters and have the courage to get involved, to bet on it, without asking anything from anyone, but it is true that we need a sensitive local administration that remains listening to our needs. The new Mayor will have to focus on tourism and the redevelopment of the City of Gela; he will have to work to reopen, in a short time, all the museum structures of the City and, taking advantage of the tender for the archaeological park of Albergo Diffuso, begin to launch a real tourist-cultural economy”.
«The redevelopment process will have to take place in a reasonably short time, because the City of Gela will be able to play a leading role next year on the occasion of the “Agrigento capital of culture 2025” event which will undoubtedly bring great economic benefits to local businesses. Gela will have to be ready to attract and welcome thousands of tourists who will come to Sicily to visit Agrigento – reiterates Maurizio Prestifilippo – We need to strengthen Gela’s image as a welcoming city. A targeted planning strategy must be studied which, for example, can provide benefits for the owners of properties used or to be used for tourist and commercial activities”.
«In addition to the cultural aspect, the new administration will have to bet on the purely tourist aspect – concludes the President of Confcommercio Caltanissetta Enna Maurizio Prestifilippo – Gela overlooks the Mediterranean and its golden beaches have nothing to envy of more noble locations and could attract numerous tourists. And the bathing establishments located on the coast of the Gulf of Gela deserve particular attention and are still at risk of survival due to the ambiguous European directives on state concessions”.
