BARI – The project already exists. As soon as Minister Fitto releases the Social Cohesion Funds (worth 4.5 billion euros for Puglia), the redevelopment of San Girolamo will begin. It will be a revolution for the Bari neighborhood dating back to 1955. «We asked the Puglia Region for a loan of over 20 million for the renovation of the old buildings and the completion of those left unfinished after the bankruptcy of the company that was building them».
The sole director of Arca Puglia Centrale, Pietro De Nicolo, explains to us what will happen to the 306 public housing apartments: «We have entrusted the study for the redesign to the Department of Architecture of the Roma Tre University, which specializes in public housing. of San Girolamo and in these days we are defining the final details. The other day, for example, the road walls were eliminated. Nice on paper but risky in practice: they could give ease to drug dealing places.”
A project worth over 20 million euros. What will it consist of?
«We have entrusted the design of the unfinished building and asked the Region for 20 million for works that will serve both to renovate the buildings and to eliminate all architectural barriers: those buildings from the 1950s are all without elevators but also without balconies. An old plan envisaged the demolition and construction of new public buildings, but with the new project a major redevelopment work will be carried out, given that the first hypothesis is not economically sustainable. Conversely, it is the regeneration of the 306 apartments we manage.”
What specifically do you expect?
«Once the unfinished building is finished we will have 106 new apartments, where we will transfer 96 families from the buildings opposite, including the residents of the building facing the unfinished building, which will then be demolished. There will be 10 houses left over which we will give to the Municipality for new assignments. At this point the old buildings will be redeveloped and we will do it housing social with controlled rent for young couples and single-income families to create a mix, that is, not only public housing, but also tenants who, despite not having the requirements to access it, can spend little on rent having low incomes”.
He already has the project in his hands. How will the neighborhood be redesigned?
«Lots of greenery and gardens, benches and fountains, playgrounds for kids, a skatepark, rides for children with guaranteed accessibility for disabled people, a cycle path and numbered car parks for tenants so that they have reserved spaces under the house, for them there will be over 200 parking spaces. But primary urbanization will also be redone: roads, sewers, lighting, asphalt. We entrusted ourselves to prof. Adolfo Baratta, a luminary in the field of social housing redevelopment and national vice-president of the Pinqua high commission, the national innovative program for the quality of living”.
200 million euros are foreseen in the Cohesion Funds for the Apulian Arks. Let’s hope they arrive soon…
«In the meantime we have moved forward, we will be ready. As soon as the Minister signs them, we will be able to start the tenders because we already have the projects. We didn’t waste time on the planning because at the end of the year the Region issued a call for tenders for Apulian public bodies for a Rotation Fund which allowed us to receive 300 thousand euros for the planning. With that money we did the studies and, from the day after the signature, we will be able to launch the tender and entrust the works. As soon as the 20 million arrive we will also be able to return to the Region those 300 thousand euros used to redesign both San Girolamo and the unfinished Mungivacca building. In total Arca Puglia has projects for over 100 million (not only in Bari) and has already obtained a loan from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti of 10 million to be repaid over 30 years with very low installments, to break down all the architectural barriers present in our buildings ».
Once redeveloped, San Girolamo will be a model of public housing.
«Every year we spend 900 thousand euros in what is becoming the best maintained neighborhood in Bari. Only a couple of months ago we delivered the redevelopment of the buildings on the right side of the sea and demolished a series of illegal constructions. I would also like to carry out another project: introducing theHousing first with the Region and Municipality of Bari, that is, providing accommodation to those who have no home, but are not homeless by choice. I’m talking about evicted people, separated parents, those who sleep in the car, families in economic and social difficulty. These are community homes in which common spaces are shared but which have reserved areas, possibly intended to host children.”
