«The year just ended has left the regional capital with the inauguration of the surface metro». Thus the vice-president and councilor for public works of the Calabria region, Filippo Mancuso, intervenes in the political debate on the infrastructure that has come into operation in Catanzaro, with a note with clear tones.
«A historic event after decades of waiting»
Mancuso underlines how the operation of the work is still partial, but destined to expand in the coming months. «The service – he states – will be able to release its full potential by spring, with the activation of the new line that connects the Germaneto area. The event is historic for Catanzaro, because the infrastructure has been awaited for decades.”
The blocked construction sites and the unfinished risk
The controversies linked to the attribution of political merits end up in the vice president’s sights. «It is not surprising – he observes – that, once a difficult result has been achieved, analyzes and reconstructions emerge that try to attribute the merits to this or that political party. But citizens are above all interested in seeing a work completed.”
Mancuso then reconstructs the previous context: «The historical truth is simple: until two years ago the metro construction sites were blocked. There was a real risk of a new, intolerable unfinished business and that hundreds of millions of euros would go up in smoke. It is no coincidence that the Court of Auditors had turned on the lights several times with alarming reports.”
«The action of the Occhiuto government is decisive»
According to the regional councilor, the change of pace is linked to the action of the executive led by Roberto Occhiuto. «Today – he states – citizens can get on the subway carriages not thanks to a memory dusted off for convenience, but due to the resolute and decisive impulse given to the work by the regional government, both in the previous and in the current legislature».
«Without this momentum of concreteness and without better use of funding compared to the past – he adds – those beautiful projects would have remained on paper. Many are good at imagining a great work, but few are capable of realizing it.”
Urban mobility and future commitments
Mancuso concludes by looking to the future: «Claiming what you have not been able to accomplish is not the height of correctness. In any case, the regional government will continue to work to make the Catanzaro metro sustainable, investing in the complex challenge of modifying urban mobility and making it more modern and efficient.”
«The facts speak clearly – he concludes – and those who have had long political experience should at least recognize them».