all the systems have been completed but the issue of maintenance of the gates remains

VENICE – The air conditioning and fire prevention systems, the software that governs the system Moses are finally completed: this was announced by the structure of the Extraordinary Commissioner Elisabetta Spitz, explaining that an exemption had been granted for this type of work until June, to prevent operations from hindering the work of the technicians during the barrier lifting season.

Air conditioning, above all, is one of the fundamental systems in the underwater environment, because in addition to contributing to the well-being of personnel, it avoids the formation of condensation humidity which could worsen the corrosion of other systems. Now that the Mose has remained a little more “at rest” compared to the winter emergencies, it has been possible to close even these activities that had remained incomplete. It being understood that the MOSE is “almost” completed, but there is still a lot of work to do.

THE FIBER

Because, for example, the cabling of the tunnels is still at point zero: for now communications travel on radio waves. It now seems certain that Oper Fiber will take care of the intervention to provide the line to all the tunnels below sea level, in turn connected to the Arsenal control room (which has been completed), but to date the contract has not been has not yet been finalized and eighteen months will start from the moment of signature to create the infrastructure. Positive news will be announced next week.

NAVIGATION LOCKS

And if the Malamocco navigation lock can be considered completed, the “blank tests” are being carried out on the first Chioggia lock, i.e. those of opening and closing without the passage of boats. Then the procedures will have to be established with the Port Authority (and probably fix the tariffs for the passage), while for the second the works are still in progress: one of the two gates is still being installed, and will be ready at the end of the ‘summer. Therefore for the next high water season, the one in which the risings will occur based on forecasts of 110 centimetres, two out of three navigation locks should be operational.

THE MAINTENANCE

The crucial issue, then, remains that of maintenance.
The first two floodgates in Treporti were dismantled and replaced with reserve ones last summer. But they haven’t returned to their places yet. Since these were prototypes, more time was probably needed to standardize operations and procedures that will then become ordinary and to make a real economic evaluation of the commitment required of Fincantieri and its group of companies, which won the tender after years spent in court . The fact remains that in one year the maintenance of two gates out of twenty-one in the Treporti array has not yet been completed. And the tender for the maintenance of the barriers of the rest of the port inlets, another 57, which the Board of Public Works was supposed to take care of, took a backseat, after the hypothesis of a public-private partnership with Fincantieri had faded.

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