CORIGLIANO-ROSANO – The Services Conference has given the green light to the construction of the New Highway 106which will connect Sibari (SS534 coupling) up to Corigliano-Rossano (Coserie torrent viaduct). The long-awaited meeting, held yesterday in Catanzaro, was chaired by the Commissioner of the Opera, Massimo Simonini, and saw the participation of the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto OcchiutoOf Anasof the mayors of the municipalities involved, Flavio Stasi for Corigliano-Rossano e Gianni Papasso for Cassano Jonio, as well as technicians and officials from various entities involved in the project.
The green light, which should be formalized in the next few hours, it was obtained with a favorable majority. The phase of completion is concluded Technical-economic feasibility designthe project will now move on to integrated procurement procedurewhich includes the executive planning hey construction works. The new infrastructure, eagerly awaited, promises to significantly improve safety by providing a valid alternative, in a crucial section, to what has unfortunately been the “road of death” for decades and to remove north-eastern Calabria from its isolation. According to the executive timetable, the works should begin by the end of 2024 or so maximum in the first months of 2025, with an estimated completion time of five years. The road should therefore be completed by 2030.
However, yesterday’s conference was very different from last month’s for Crotone-Catanzaro. In the Citadel of Catanzaro, where the CDS was celebrated, there was no shortage of tensions and critical issues: many issues raised led the mayor of Corigliano-Rossano, Flavio Stasito express a favorable opinion but bound to specifics prescriptions.
The conditions expressed in the opinion, registered by the mayor, include theUrban crossing of Corigliano for which the re-evaluation of the route is requested, proposing a tunnel instead of an urban viaduct, to preserve the landscape and the urban structure, if the hydrogeological studies (the municipal administration would have commissioned one which would demonstrate the possibility of the work underground but, apparently, this study would not have received the approval of the Basin Authority); The Expropriation plan with which Stasi calls for a revision of the same to protect urbanized areas and quality agricultural production; The Insiti interchange project which must necessarily be harmonized with the ongoing modernization of SP 195, crucial for the connection with the new Sibaritide hospital; there ddefinition of the overall cost of the work including complementary works to avoid a negative impact in the case of partial financing of the infrastructure; there design of complementary works which must be detailed and include everything requested by the municipal administration at a preliminary stage to ensure sustainable and functional integration.
In the absence of compliance with these provisions, the opinion would be negative due to the unsustainability of the territorial impact. Mayor Stasi reiterated the openness of the new Executive to collaborate to address the critical issues and improve the project, underlining that the discussion and a 90-day deferral, at least to allow time for the new civic government to take office, would have been appropriate to a more in-depth analysis.
However, there is a fixed point in all this: the construction of the New State Road 106 represents a crucial challenge for north-eastern Calabria. Because the predmost five yearsduring which the foundations will be laid to emerge from the profound post-pandemic global economic and structural crisis aggravated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it will be crucial for new investments and financing, public and private. If this area wants to be attractive and competitive on all fronts, it must be ready to receive production flows. But FrTo do this it needs to be connected to the rest of the country and Europe.
