“The port of Vibo Marina was allocated an FSC funding of 18 million euros for the redevelopment and consolidation works of the Pola Tripoli and Papandrea Buccarelli docks. In 2022, the Port System Authority of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas had time to tender works for only nine million euros, the other half of the money had to be returned, upon explicit request, to the Calabria Region. In January 2024, we asked, with a question addressed to the President of the Regional Council Roberto Occhiuto, what he intended to do with those remaining 9 million euros and how he planned to make them available to the legitimate recipient, namely the Vibo Valentia airport. Occhiuto preferred not to answer this question or, rather, he answered, but with a vague bullshit”.
This is what the representatives of the 5 Star Movement, the parliamentarian Riccardo Tucci and the regional councilor Davide Tavernise affirm in a note.
“The Region – they add – to our question has, in order, responded that the contract for the works on the Papandrea and Bucarelli docks was not awarded because it was not very attractive due to the “probable” increase in costs; that for the aforementioned intervention much more than 9 million euros are needed and that they have spoken with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to find the necessary financing.
In short, our question about the fate of the 9 million has not been answered, nor whether they intend to reinvest them in Vibo. To paraphrase the poet, in the Region they preferred to “talk about everything so as not to talk about… the 9 million”.
“It is worth reminding President Occhiuto – Tucci and Tavernise underline – that the release of the 18 million euros in favor of the port of Vibo Marina is the result of the institutional dialogue work of the 5 Star Movement. It would really be a mockery if that money, on which the future of Vibo depends, were to take other paths. We would not want the people of Vibo to be robbed of this additional allocation of 9 million intended for transportation, after the recent subtraction of a fund of 10 million euros intended for healthcare”, they conclude