The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has communicated to the Port System Authority of the Southern Tyrrhenian Seas the allocation of 48 million euros from the National Recovery Plan and Resilience to complete the coverage of the project electrification of the eastern quay of the port of Gioia Tauro. This was announced by the port authority at today's meeting of the Sea Resource Partnership Body which has approved the variation of the Three-Year Operational Programme, which has expanded to 66 million euros for the financing of this project, of which 18 million euros million already allocated to the Port Authority and, initially, deriving from the Cohesion Fund.

"We have finally obtained - announced the president of the Port Authority, Andrea Agostinelli - the financing of this infrastructure, for which only 18 million had been allocated of euros, insufficient for the completion of the works. Now, by letter official MIT, dated January 22, 2025, we received an additional 48 million euros which, overall, expand the value of the loan at 66 million euros. However, I would like to highlight one detail: the financing is no longer burdened on the Complementary Fund but on the PNRR, which means having to proceed to the relevant testing by March 2026. These are, evidently, of a very difficult challenge that we have accepted, for which we have already allocated, in an emergency, the commitment of half of the institution's staff. We are determined to win too challenge, but it is clear that we will not be able to accept a possible lack of cooperation from administrations, especially the local ones, called upon to participate in the completion of the preliminary proceedings, because it is a work that will determine the survival of the port of Gioia Tauro".

Other topics on the agenda of the meeting include today, the ratification of the urgency variation of the 2024 budget which has provided, among the various measures, the allocation of one million of euros to be allocated to the reimbursement of anchorage fees to the shipping companies, lines or shipping consortia that carry out the freight transport activity in relation to its type of traffic in the ports of competence.