LANCIANO – «The Sangritana must be saved and I am pleased that, after our appeals in recent weeks, other local parties have also taken a position, supporting what must become a common battle to defend the historical, economic and cultural heritage of Lanciano and of the Val di Sangro”.
This was underlined by the provincial commissioner of the Chieti League and mayor of Gamberale Maurizio Bucci, who this morning held a press conference in Lanciano, together with the regional councilor and coordinator of the League’s Department of Transport, Infrastructure and Public Works, Carla Mannetti. «Our appeals were collected by the exponents of Fratelli d’Italia of Lanciano and immediately afterwards also by those of the Frentano Democratic Party. The Frentano Democratic Party – Bucci points out – rightly highlighted that the expulsion of the transport company started with the creation of Tua, forgetting, however, to say that this operation had a name and surname identifiable precisely in the Democratic Party that led the Region and in the then President of the newly formed Tua, Professor Luciano D’Amico. With the creation of Tua, therefore, the weakening of what until then was a thriving and valid transport company began. And to tell the truth, it would be the same today because, and I say this as a professional technician, if we look at Sangritana’s balance sheets we see that they are still positive and, therefore, with rosy prospects. However, this is not the case. It is not due to a series of non-compliances and illogical choices perpetuated by Tua in concert with the Abruzzo Region which, in fact, has impoverished its assets and emptied the company’s coffers”.
Bucci therefore once again traces the history of this company and the relationships with the Region and with Tua. «In 2017 – he underlines -, with a regional resolution of the then majority led by Luciano D’Alfonso, the transfer to Sangritana of some services and sections of Tua which were decidedly not productive was established. This resolution was followed up in 2018, when Sangritana was even forced to pay 1,250,000 euros per year to Tua for passive services. Therefore, not only did Tua free itself from expensive services which entailed significant losses for its balance sheet, but it actually acquired a substantial profit from them. The opposite happened for Sangritana who loaded herself with passive racing and, at the same time, paid 1,250,000 euros per year to do so. In 2019, other lines were passed to Sangritana, which on the ARPA budget were assessed by President D’Amico himself as liabilities of 1.5 million euros per year; Furthermore, the Frentana company was also required to modernize its fleet of vehicles to carry out these passive services, burdening it with a further cost of approximately another million and a half euros. In total, therefore, an operation that cost Sangritana 3 million euros in addition to the previous ones. Therefore from 2018 to 2021 Sangritana had to suffer a deadweight loss of over 6 million euros for operations which, it was already known, would bring similar results. In addition to this, over the years there have been other operations to the detriment of Sangritana (unnecessary and appropriate rentals and sales of various kinds from Tua to Sangritana, transfer of personnel and various other things) which have cost a further 2.5 million euros . In the meantime, Sangritana’s workforce has gone from 47 units in 2019 to 100 in 2023. Despite all this – explains Bucci – Sangritana is still a solid company and can become a jewel of the area. The numbers and data speak for themselves. In 2019 the cargo traffic turnover was 5.3 million euros, last year 11.5 million euros also taking into account the blockage of rail traffic for almost a month due to the flood in Emilia Romagna, which did not allow to travel, therefore losing turnover. In 2024 it is expected to reach 15 million euros. In short, today Sangritana alone generates revenues from traffic, without receiving any type of contribution from the Abruzzo Region, higher than those of Tua which, however, enjoys a regional contribution of over 100 million per year! Currently – reiterates the commissioner of the League – Sangritana is one of the top ten rail transport companies for goods in Italy and, the commitment that Minister Salvini has confirmed, through the Undersecretary Luigi D’Eramo, of new investments for over 37 million euros to upgrade Abruzzo’s railway networks is tangible proof of how important rail transport is considered to be for our region, even at government level. And Sangritana is fundamental in the Cargo sector. For all this – he concludes – I consider the intervention of other political forces who have accepted my invitation to support a common battle to be positive. I now hope that they too will be able, as I did, to involve their representatives in the Regional Council in this battle, who until now have had little participation or opinion. I, however, thank the lawyer Mannetti, in the past also head of the Region’s Transport Department and with high expertise in the matter, for taking part in the press conference in support of a commitment, I repeat, to defend a historical economic heritage and cultural heritage of Lanciano and Val di Sangro: our Sangritana!”.
On the sidelines of the meeting with the press this morning, Bucci and Mannetti together with the councilor of the Municipality of Lanciano, Graziella Di Campli, went to the Sangritana headquarters to formally request that the service order with which the 7 last June «the closure of the travel and rental agency, managed by Sangritana Spa, was arbitrarily ordered». «This decision – point out Bucci, Mannetti and Di Campli – is not shared with local institutions and trade unions, but exclusively with the Tua company, with harmful consequences. We therefore immediately ask, in addition to the withdrawal of the service order, a meeting with the institutional and union representatives”.
