shooting range on the high seas. «Full speed ahead or goodbye to funds»

ANCONA The sports citadel of Passo Varano sinks. And all around there is still a riot of busy construction sites. Olympic swimming pool and volleyball range first and foremost. For the swimming facility the key to understanding is twofold. The positive side of the matter: the delivery of the works is scheduled for June 17th. The negative one: the start of work is almost a year late. And the deadline is always there, solid, stuck in January 2026. The Pnrr times are rigid and cannot be extended. Now the Edileco Telarucci company, awarded the contract for the work, will have to proceed at full speed. Smoothly. Otherwise the 3 million of the Pnrr risk evaporating.

The obstacles

Also because, up to now, that pool has seen too many obstacles. Let’s rewind the tape: On 12 April last year the municipal offices wrote to the planners highlighting that it was necessary to reduce the estimated costs to be included in the Pnrr financing. Time leap: last February, in the city council, the councilor for sports facilities, Daniele Berardinelli, announced in the chamber that the pool had shrunk. No longer 50×25 meters, but 50×21. Hence another flaw: the 50×21 dimensions do not allow swimming competitions to be held on 25 meters which would require a one and a half meter wide pontoon. Discussions and somersaults. Stop, nothing will happen. The dimensions remain the same. Now full speed ahead.

On the high seas

Further back is the shooting range. But far behind. The final project is being approved. So there is not yet an executive one that would start the construction site. While, even in this case, the trap of the Pnrr is always there: beginning of 2026. The overall cost of the financing work is 4.8 million euros, which is on the crest of a timetable that the Mati group spa company will have to respect to the thousandth. Truly a challenge against time. «There is a relationship problem with the National Shooting Federation (Uits, ed.) which is asking us for changes to the tracks and shooting positions – says the councilor for Public Works, Stefano Tombolini -. The time has come to urge. Even though the construction of the plant is easy to carry out, the work must be started otherwise there is a risk of not staying within the times established by the Pnrr”. It is not yet red alert, but the LED flashes orange. The sports facility will be built within the same area as the Olympic swimming pool. It will include indoor and outdoor shooting areas where international level competitions will take place. «It is precisely on the basis of these competitions that the federation changed the cards on the table – continues Tombolini – for a different number of slopes and different shooting plans compared to the original project».

Towards the finish line

However, the Ponterosso swimming pool is in the home stretch. «We have reached testing, it will be ready for the next competitive season» announces Tombolini. That is, September. But the restyling of the plant marked biblical times. Closed since 2021, the €1.7 million work on the wooden structure – which also includes the new roof – was expected to last 180 days. Three years later it seems the end is in sight. Finally. It is true that the current administration inherited the mass of projects for the construction and renovation of sports facilities from the previous one. An important passing of the baton, but which also saw the emergence of a series of problems – certainly not attributable to politics – which have reverberated on the current municipal administration. Tombolini is nevertheless confident: «Having high-level systems – he says – brings great results. We don’t lack champions, it’s a confirmation of that.”

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