The theses of accusation and defense in the "process" to the project for the realization of the Europe Platform in the port of Livorno



The debate does not come down of tone on the project for the realization of the Europe Platform in the port of Livorno, work whose indispensability for I throw again of the harbour port of call is evidenced by almost the totality of the Harbour Committee on the base of a study commissioned from the Harbour Authority to the temporary association of enterprise between the Italian Of Appolonia (group RINA) and the British Ocean Shipping Consultants (OSC), analysis that is contested by the mayor of Livorno, Filippo Nogarin, whose perplexities are restated by Nicoletta Batini, economist who is candidated by the first citizen to the presidency of the harbour authority of Livorno ( of the 13, 15 and 26 May 2015).

The quality of the study introduced in recent days to the Harbour Committee is defended yesterday by the director of the society of advising Ocean Shipping Consultants, Andrew Penfold, in the course of I confront opened with the citizenship and it prints on the project of the Europe Platform and on the realization of the new terminal containers that within the next few years the west of the Tuscany Dock will rise behind of the side that has been organized from the Harbour Authority of Livorno.

If the occasion has been propitious for an ulterior examination of the project of potenziamento of the labornico port of call, it has but also revealed it disagrees opinions of the livornesi institutions on the hypotheses of development of the port and the economy of the city. Evidencing that yesterday to the convention they were you anticipate interested international operators to the Europe Platform, "we have not offered they a beautiful show", the extraordinary commissioner of the Harbour Authority has stated, Giuliano Gallanti. No step behind, but, by the harbour agency: "we will go ahead however: to July - Gallanti has confirmed - we will introduce the ban of contest for the choice of the promoter".

In its participation the mayor of Livorno has restated that the realization of the Europe Dock and the new terminal containers "represents for the municipal administration important operations in the optical of the development of the port and of I throw again of the city and, also, in that of giving a perspective to the entire Tuscany coast". "If by a part, in fact, I am convinced that without infrastructures the port will not be able to have some future - but has specified Nogarin - from the other also which convinced remainder of the fact that this does not become the passepartout for operations that, if led back to a plan of real feasibility and which related to the perspectives of development of national the marine traffic of the next years, reveal all their embrittlement and demonstrate indeed of having little to that to make with I throw again of the port of Livorno and the city".

The mayor has confirmed that from part its "the doubts on the Europe Dock, key element is of the new Portuale Town development plan that of the program agreement, is many, too many - it has specified - in order not to obligate us to the caution in completing steps from which, once carried out, it will not be more possible to return behind". "Passed the easy enthusiasms of the moment and he proclaim, legacies generally to the next regional elections - he has continued Nogarin - to remain will be the facts, from which he is unfortunately not given to prescind. And the facts speak, just for the sake of to begin, of a firm harbour Prg remained from at least 60 years, immobilized between varying and varying some, than suddenly but, in least time, the requirement has been felt to approve of in a rush, without minimally to listen to the city, but indeed giving of communication to the mayor who represents it only little hours before. The facts - the mayor has denounced newly - say that to support of decisions to adopt for the fundamental project of the Europe Dock, the Harbour Authority has commissioned, with public money pairs to 195 thousand euros (repeat 195 thousand euros, almost thousand euros to page), a study of "ingegnerizzazione financial institution" to two society of advising (Of Appolonia and OSC) between whose competences and spheres of activity do not re-enter in some way the ingegnerizzazione job financial institution.
With which criteria, I wonder, are selected the aforesaid having societies of advising various competences from previewed how much from the contest ban? It was not before enough (still to get to the point of this study on which, I restate, is based in via exclusive right the approval of the project Europe Dock), is intentional to maintain this analysis classified, although financed with money publics, and, only after the demand for the undersigned to report some within a Harbour Committee, it is delivered to its members hardly 20 hours before the reunion. A little little in order to estimate, as in fact they would deserve, 200 pages on whose contained one decides the future of a city and many its workers".

"Less than never - Nogarin - if those pages curious are written in English, contrarily to how much has emphasized previews the national norm. And not an English any, I even yield of the job than expert native speaker, but a maccheronico, full English of grammatical errors and syntax, that they make somigliare the document to a job elaborated in Italian and, only successively, translate in not authentic language. Scope is which all this, lawful to wonder? If this, it is with which we intend to introduce on the international market of forehead and competitors and bearers to us of interest, I do not dare to imagine, alas, which it can be the price that we will be called to pay in terms of credibility and of reliability. It could be, however - it has observed the mayor - already a step forward to know if Port Authority has at least verified with organisms potentially backers, for example BEAUTIFUL which, the validity of the document to the aims of the access to the facilitated financings let alone of the definition of the ban of "project financing" under emanation, considered that, if so were not, all this could be cause of serious and harmful delays".

"And still. The facts say - it has emphasized Nogarin - than the document are vitiated by a evident conflict of interest, because one of its authors is the same person who has written up the preliminary project of the Europe Dock. It is more than lawful to wonder, to this point, which type of objective judgment can never have express this person also on the feasibility financial institution of the same one slowly"

"Al beyond relative the formal evidences up to here characterized to the document (also most serious if, as I repeat, it is placed to the base of the new development of the city): exorbitant cost, qualities of the job unacceptably lowland, unwarrantable connection with the contracting out Harbour Authority, competences of the various society from the ban of contest in object - it has continued the mayor - are however the substance issues on which it presses me here to stop to me, before between all the issue of the backdrops. The analysis of attractiveness of the project Dock Europe di Ocean Shipping Consultans takes apart in fact the forecast of backdrops to 16 meters that the same project characterizes, regarding which had express strong perplexities before time which convinced that without indispensable requirement of the backdrops at least 18 meters, to guarantee of nautical accessibility, Livorno a lot extolled could not never become potential the hub of containers of the Mediterranean. To carry to 18 meters the depth of the docks, besides to put to us protected from ulterior leaps in naval gigantism, would since afford quickly the berthing of all the portacontainer today in circulation and under construction, that they demand backdrops beyond the 16 meters. It is not necessary to be expert of the Navy Corps of Engineers in order to notice that to preview today, to papers signed, ulterior two meters of escavo is not at all a issue little account, as instead would be wanted to be fooled into believing. This first of all means to make to leaven costs, that we will not know as supporting, and, secondarily, to have to dispose thousands of cubic metres in more than mud, not simple containing mud operation be a matter heavy metals and polluting elements".

"Other not marginal aspect - Nogarin has still polemizzato - is that financial. The cost of the operation, suddenly is leavend of beyond 150 million euros, passing from the 650 about which until now it had been spoken, to about 805. Of this 300 million they will be at the expense of the public who will have to participate also to the remaining part, to finance itself in financing, that is through the contribution of the private one that partially will be compensated by the release of the concession of the new terminal. As mayor, I have also the duty to interrogate to me on the fact that a lot announced “money rain” arrives in wide measure from the ignition of mortgages that, in the final analysis could weigh more still on the pockets of the citizens, in particular on which they have lost the job or they are losing it and that instead they would demand support and perspectives of job in the short term. Moved from this worry and convinced that the realization of the great structural works of the Europe Dock and of I climb over railway they could also represent an important occasion of placement for many workers that live situations of strong uneasiness today, in recent days the consiliare commission job had invited the Harbour Authority in order to start a dialogue participated and shared and to report on these thematic ones. Invitation that, however, is not collected”.

“Returning under consideration of OSC - it has found moreover the mayor - better it does not go if it is looked at to the crucial point around which would have to rotate the feasibility of the project: the projection of the Leighorn traffic on the markets in mean-along period. A projection that, being to reported how much in the document, would have to quite succeed in to double in head to next the 20 years, in a picture of the Italian ports of the Tyrrhenian North they also all miraculously kissed from the good one rising, and all curious in increase with the same identical values percentages, although in competition ones with the others. Fascinating but, I would risk, little credible perspective since such model has as foundation the constant increase of the GDP national for next the twenty-year period, without to preview to the horizon no period of recession increase zero tantomeno. An optimism that go well to beyond the credible one considered the current crisis of the Italian economy and the fact that, from 2000 today, we are the only ones to have seen to diminish the produced wealth. If, date the issue of the backdrops, the Europe Dock does not turn out financially attractive in most rose-colored of the scenes, as she could never be, wonders, in a realistic one”

Nogarin has expressed a critical care also to the tempistiche of realization of the harbour work: “the project - it has remembered - calculates in 5-7 years that, according to happened how much in the past for less challenging infrastructural operations also much of the Europe Dock - it has observed - they legitimately make to fear the possibility of delays. This we cannot afford it. The shipowners cannot attend, made that it would cut outside the port of Livorno from the national and international traffics; for this we will go to any length in order to supervise, we will demand a cronoprogramma of iron work detailed and precise, and contracts with the companies; it is a engagement that we take ourselves regarding all the citizens, that they are those who, at the end, will pay the work”.

“The administration, I restate it - it has concluded the mayor - does not intend to block the port, we want with all our forces that of Livorno becomes the more important of the Mediterranean: own for this we expect reliable previsional analyses and the maximum confidence and competence of the prelocated people to work to the project”.

Alle strongly critical observations of Nogarin on the quality of the study of competitive analysis of the traffics and on the economic plan financial of the introduced Europe Platform gives Of Apollonia-OSC has replied the experts of the society of English advising that, beginning from the traffic forecasts, have evidenced that in this phase of economic recession a grip persists correlation between the increase of the question of the traffics and the course of the exports: “creed - it has clarified Andrew Penfold - does not have sense to accuse to us, as the mayor has made, to have set up a same level of economic increase for all the ports of Alto Tirreno hence to 2035. The forecasts - it has stated - are made just in this way, establishing a course of the traffic on macro-regional base and defining then for every port the market share that is up to it. As for the fact that we would have been too much generous in establishing an exponential increase of the question of the harbour services hence to the 20 years, I want to emphasize that from 2020 to the 2035 we have set up a annual increment hardly 2%, a multiplier not far from the consent of the international economists”.

As for the costs of the study, “against contract 190 thousand euros - the London student with Cristina Migliaro has asserted, manager of Of Appolonia - the compages Italian-English have supplied not only the studies of analysis of the traffic, but it has written up the economic plan financial and it has set up the job of scouting near potential international investor, during which ATI will make from support the Harbour Authority of Livorno”.

The distance is evidenced also to curriculare very wide to the assets of Ocean Shipping Consultants and Appolonia in marine-harbour field and engineering financial institution: the first has had as customers carries of international rank, which Rotterdam, Antwerp and Barcelona, and have manifactured projects of study for the Turkish ports and many terminalisti, from DP World to Hutchinson, while the second one, between the many things, has taken care as an example of the two diligence technical economic financial institution of Meter 5 of Milan in quality of advisor of the pool of banks, let alone of assistance technical-financial institution to unit of appraisal of the infrastructural projects of the African Development Bank with respect to the risk of investments in developing countries.

“It is sad - Penfold has rimarcato - than the representative of an institution doubts of our credibility and reputation, defining our report a job of very bad quality. It the stakeholder do not think so international for which we have worked and with which we have still report consolidated”.

With respect to the financings for the realization of the project the regional city council member to the budget is taken part, Vittorio Bugli: those that is certainly today - has explained - they are 12,5 million per year for twenty years that the Region will directly distribute to the Harbour Authority of guaranteed Livorno and 50 million euros from the government. They are sure money, distributed to cover of the debit that the authority will contract with banks. “The great works - it has emphasized the general secretary of the Harbour Authority, Massimo Provinciali - are financed in this way. I would want in fact to remember that five thousand the billions of Liras that in first years 2000 were distributed to the Harbour Authorities by the central administration were destined pluriennali cover financings of mortgage installments. Agency does not exist - it has evidenced - that needs 500 m cash to spend in little months”.

Relatively to the necessity of the 18 meters of depth of the Europe Dock of which the students have spoken about the OCS, alluding to the possibility to go beyond the 16 meters originally planned, ingegner Marco Tartaglini, of the society of hydraulic engineering and marine Modimar, has explained that an eventual technical adjustment of the current Portuale Town development plan would not be then a drama: “it is true - he has confirmed - the students of the OSC admit the possibility to realize of the works of banchinamento of the Europe Platform with a imbasamento of the docks that beneath returns possible deepenings also of the quota 16 meters. And if also he were? In the first instance, a simple technical-functional adaptation of the Portuale Town development plan would be enough, varying draft of little an account; in the second place, 2,5 million the cubic metres in more dredging if we decided to go to -18 meters, could be used for the fill of the spiagge of the sandy coast to the north of Calambrone. In fact it is found through various studies that the next backdrops the Europe Platform are to norm, do not contain polluting elements that is”.