Today in Genoa the first stone of the new breakwater of the port. Throw is the appropriate verb given which, to symbolically kick off the work, a bucket has poured into sea of gravelly material that went to rest on a Backdrop whose consistency is not totally certain. That What is certain is that the work has officially begun And what is equally certain is when the work will have to be terminated. Because if the departure date of the intervention, which is part of the Extraordinary Programme for recovery of the port of Genoa., has been postponed by two or three months, being previously scheduled for February 2023, the date of Conclusion is mandatorily set for November 2026 as established, for the disbursement of the 500 million of financing for the implementation of phase A of the project, from the timing of implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

What is not certain is precisely the consistency of the seabed on which the dam will be laid. Beyond the warnings of engineer Piero Silva, consultant active in the field of port works, which contested everything about the project: dimensions, costs, times and, in particular, the installation of the work on silt-clayey soil placed at great depth, retained excessive for the current technical possibilities, even the Paolo Emilio Signorini, President of the Authority of Port System of the Western Ligurian Sea as well as extraordinary commissioner for the construction of the New Dam Foranea of Genoa, has repeatedly mentioned, even today, the geotechnical unknowns that weigh on the progress of the project.

That the new dam is "a unique work in the world in its genre for engineering complexity and innovation» Pietro Salini, administrator delegate of Webuild, leader of the consortium "Pergenova" Breakwater" which includes Fincantieri Infrastructure Works Marittime, Fincosit and Sidra and that will build the dam: a work located about 450 meters offshore from the current one breakwater of the port, which will be 6,200 meters long (4,125 meters in phase A) and will be laid on deep bottoms up to -50 meters. At the first handful of stones fallen into the water today Seven million tons of rock material will follow used for the construction of the base, consisting of a Hundred prefabricated reinforced concrete caissons 35 wide meters, 67 meters long and up to 33 meters high, which will be placed, as repeatedly reminded, at one of the greatest depths at World for a breakwater.

A new work that, as underlined by the authority portuale, constitutes "the greatest intervention ever realized for the enhancement of Italian ports» and that, according to the forecasts of the institution, "will ensure a annual progressive growth of commercial traffic of the port Genoa between 22% and 30% from 2027 to 2030", the year in which it will be phase B completed. The new dam is set to improve access to the port especially to large ships and to differentiate the freight traffic from passenger traffic.

That the new work will be the result of the consensus to the construction manifested by the last governments has been remembered this morning at the ceremony of laying the foundation stone, in the Sala delle Compere of Palazzo San Giorgio, in the presence, in Representation of the current executive, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matteo Salvini, and his deputy Edward Rixi. The strong will that led to the day today was highlighted by the mayor of Genoa, Marco Bucci, and by the president of the Liguria Region, Giovanni Toti. Solidity that from now on customers and manufacturers they trust to find also in the seabed on which the new dam.

Costs have not been discussed today. The planned investment is €1.28 billion, of which €950 million for Phase A and €330 billion million for phase B. The Port System Authority calculates the economic benefit brought by the construction of the new dam in 4.2 billion euros in terms of increased revenues from container traffic, port fees and taxes.