The project for a terminal in Pentimele to ferry heavy vehicles has entered the final phase. «It is yet another decision, taken from afar, which, once again, humiliates Reggio – comments Peppe Scopelliti -. But the idea of having trucks arrive in Reggio is not new, and the Municipal Administration was aware of it. However, it has never opposed a serious project to enhance that area due to its inability.” A clear and cutting judgement, which Scopelliti motivates thus: «It could have demonstrated the existence of an alternative idea, of a qualifying objective to relaunch the infrastructural system of that stretch of coast. For Reggio it will be yet another blow to the heart inflicted by an inadequate and irresponsible administration. We fear that the impact of the trucks on the Tremestieri-Reggio line which, once landed on our side, will have to travel the ramp to “go back up” to the motorway, towards the North, will have a very long reverberation, at least until the bridge over the Strait is operational.”
«As mayor first, and then as president of the Region, I worked to get cruise ships to Reggio in the strategic vision of Reggio projected towards the Mediterranean, rather than heavy vehicles! In 2012, with the then mayor Demetrio Arena – recalls Scopelliti – I met the maritime authorities and the commander of the cruise ship “Costa Voyager”, which landed in the port of Reggio, to highlight how, for us, cruise tourism should have been fundamental to the idea of a tourist city. A few days later, at the Marseille Fair, we relaunched the idea and presented the project lines on the potential of the Calabrian ports, in particular that of Reggio, to aim for the stable presence of large cruise ships. Then it was the turn of the Miami Fair, on the occasion of Cruise Shipping 2013, the most important world fair in the cruise sector, where I met representatives of the most important shipping companies Royal Caribbean Cruises, Carnival Group UK, Seadream Yacht Club, Silversea, Seabourn Cruise Line and many others. Furthermore, the idea of building the “Pala-Crociere” developed in agreement with the competent Ministry, precisely to give concreteness and stability to this idea. This vision was also supported by Reggio Futura, in the belief that Reggio should aspire to much more than being a peripheral area for the transit of trucks. And when the then prefect of Reggio coordinated the table in which the docking of heavy vehicles in Reggio was discussed, I wrote him a very harsh letter highlighting that the development strategies of the territory were certainly not his responsibility but belonged to politicians”.
«The alternative to the disembarkation of heavy vehicles is and should have been Bolano. What is happening today – concludes Scopelliti – is the obvious outcome of the process and of an affair in which Reggio’s politics has demonstrated culpable superficiality. And then, I wonder: where are the environmentalists and ecologists in Reggio? They have nothing to say about air pollution in the center of the City? We still believe that politics must be about understanding what can happen, anticipating events: everything that has been missing in this matter due to the ineptitude of this municipal administration. I therefore appeal to the city’s parliamentarians to intervene to avoid this umpteenth defeat which once again humiliates Reggio’s dreams.
