The “Water War” is being fought between those who oppose management in private hands, even partially, and those who favor mixed governance. The latest episode of the conflict dates back to a few weeks ago, when the mayor of Messina Federico Basile had clearly criticized the new path taken by the ATI, the Territorial Water Assembly, which in the province of Messina is led by Commissioner Rosaria Barresi. Basile had asked for the situation to be reviewed, with the support of other colleagues («55») in the province who, like him, defend the public administration of water vigorously. Specifically, he had asked to give the floor back to the assembly of mayors, so that they could express their opinion on the management method, giving priority to in-house providing. Result? Almost a month has passed since that outburst and nothing has changed. On the contrary.
The ATI continues to move forward, running towards a new tender aimed at identifying the private entity that will have to hold 49 percent of the newly created Messinacque spa, while the remaining 51 percent will remain in the public share. The leaders are preparing the new procedure, which will be launched by the end of the year, with the aim of reversing the previous trend, which ended with the negative result of the tender which was unsuccessful on two occasions. Now, time is running out and the margins have narrowed, with the deadlines imposed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, linked to the infrastructural interventions to be carried out, inexorably approaching.
The full article is available in the print and digital editions
