Because reality is truly an ugly beast, especially when it surpasses the imaginable. As happens in that day Novarain the shadow of the new hospital which does not exist (I discussed it in a post dated 13 May), but whose tender, announced in 2019, has already cost over two million euros – as he declared the general director Zulian responsible for doing so of the Piedmont Region, without anything happening.
I have already talked about the subject’s actions in relation to a 159 thousand euro assignment for the work of adjusting the costs indicated in the project in light of the post-Covid price increases, an assignment assigned without tender (it is within the limits) to the Principia Engineering company which fulfilled to the commitment in a few hours, with a profit that I had calculated at 6,615 euros per hour. Not bad in these busy times underpaid and professionals treated like slaves. The CV of the person in charge does not reveal any specialization in the sector partnershipa requirement required by the appointment resolution.
The news is that someone else is probably interested in the matter. Perhaps stimulated by the interest of regional councilor Sean Sacco (M5S) who, through one of his collaborators, made a report to the ASO Board of Auditors noting some anomalies of the assignment to Principia Engineering.
So the president of the Board of Auditors asked the Novara DG for explanations and he entrusted the drafting of a legal opinion to the lawyer From the Piaz, an expert in administrative law, who already collaborates with the Novara AOU. On April 19th he confirmed that the appointment resolution that’s no good because it lacks “[…] following elements: to) indication of the RUP of the service (the person responsible for the entire procedure was missing); b) adequacy of the estimate offered and the amount of the award, possibly with reference to the tariff parameters for engineering and architectural services; c) possession of general requirements and special requirements if necessary (e.g. professional suitability: registration with the CCAA) as well as suitable previous experience of the entrusted economic operator”.
Therefore the lawyer Del Piaz proposes to the DG to rectify with a new Resolution that intact the previous one with missing data. It could still be a few days before we see the result, because it could be more of a correction than a correction amnesty, i.e. a provision that recognizes a problem that has already occurred and a damage that cannot be remedied otherwise. But at that point the University Hospital itself will be required to send the document to the Court of Auditors, because the amnesty resolutions, as a rule, cannot be adoptedespecially if they do not ascertain and report the information of those responsible for the damage caused for possible legal proceedings.
Last Monday 13 May, however, the situation for the DG of Novara could have changed complicated in light of three resolutions (n. 18, 19 and 20) with which the Piedmont Regional Council approved the agreements between the Region, Inail and three Piedmont Health Service Companies to create, within the framework of the three-year Building Plan Social Institute, three other new hospitals.
On page 4 of those agreements say that “… the preliminary analyzes underway by the offices of the healthcare companies involved and the market and context analyzes […] highlight that the estimated costs (in 2022) of the new hospital facilities included in the planning of the Inail three-year investment plans are underestimated of an average of around 30-35%[…]”. They helped the companies to define the new costs, through their own offices or within pre-existing collaborations. So, to update the costs for the other hospitals no assignment to third parties. The General Directors of the ASL City of Turin, of the ASL TO4 and of the ASL CN1 are only better of their colleague from Novara or is there something else? We just have to wait for someone else to take care of the matter too.
So, now let’s talk about money. The Novara consultancy indicated the increased cost of building the new hospital at 111 million euros, which thus rises to 530 million euros (+26.5% compared to the previous evaluation), excluding financial charges. It would have been normal for the Piedmont Region – which has 729 million at its disposal pursuant to art. 20 of Law 67/88 which finances the construction of new hospitals – intervened with its funds without increasing the private contribution, so as not to increase future debt. Instead the Region did the exact opposite: it maintained unchanged its own contribution of 199,494,000 euros, passing on the increase to the private investor, which therefore goes from 220 to 330 million.
All this through the increase in the fee for private investment, brought to 35,200,000 per year, and in the duration of the concession (from 19 to 25 years) with consequent increase of financial charges. Thus the cost of the Novara PPP operation increases by 598,738,000 euros only due to the higher financial costs, which exceed the cost of construction in amount of the property.
To put it simply, the dealer will receive an interest rate of 8.53% on his investment. Not bad, but who will pay in the next 25 years all this goodness? The country is also falling apart like this.
