VENEZIA – «The port of Venice is not central in the country’s planning, but it is at a global level. Venice is one of the most sought-after destinations globally.” The words of Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Edoardo Rixi they give hope to the Venetian port community, which will thus be able to count, at least on word, on the ministry’s outstretched hand to make room for investments.
“Trezze” Island and maintenance excavations are the main issues on which Rixi addressed today, during a meeting which took place today at the headquarters of the Port System Authority of the Northern Adriatic Sea (AdSP MAS). The politician wanted to meet the interlocutors of the port, such as the president of the Authority appointed a few days ago, Matteo Gasparato, the maritime director of Venice, Admiral Filippo Marini, the president of the Authority for the Venice Lagoon, Roberto Rossetto, the president of the Venice Port Community (Vpc), Davide Calderan, and the president of Venezia Terminal Passeggeri (Vtp), Fabrizio Spagna.
The objective of the comparison was to study the relaunch and development of the Venetian port system.
«We talked about cruises, dredging in the lagoon, the reform, reassuring the port community that we will involve when the reform is carried forward and the discussion at parliamentary level is opened to us», Rixi said.
REGULATED PORT
Strong words, which also left room for MOSE: «it is a particular port in our country, so much so that I would like to define it (at a regulatory level, ed.) also as a regulated portbecause it has peculiarities that no other Italian port has, but which must contribute to developing a dynamic territory like Veneto”. For Rixi, ports must be central: «my concern is that the European market has not grown for years, and having economic problems also in Germany and France, we will always need maritime development to reach other non-European markets and allow our companies to grow».
IWhile waiting for the future, which may be offshore, the deputy minister said that today will be necessary “because companies must not be closed down”believing in “national-level coordination on interventions”, defined as “fundamental to have the possibility of intervening promptly when tragic situations occur”, a reason that pushes the reform to go “precisely in that direction”.
DREDGING
On the topic of dredging authorizations, Rixi clarified that they do not depend on him: “I would have issued them three years ago, but another ministry gives them (Environment, ed.) and there are other authorities”, therefore he clarified that it will be necessary to break down the “various layers of bureaucracy”, but he also had concerns about the a priori ideological positions: “not maintaining the dredging, continuing to believe that if nothing is done it is better. And unfortunately someone in Venice also has this idea and it doesn’t help the lagoon.”
To look to the future, Rixi clarified that everyone must understand «that port infrastructural development is necessary not for today, but for future generations, to guarantee that quality of environmental life and services».
Then, on the topic he added: «I would do the dredging of the Vittorio Emanuele tomorrow morningbut I need them to give the authorizations and that things are done in a workmanlike manner, that the characterizations are done in record time. Nobody forbids you to work on Saturdays and Sundays too. I do it, others can do it too.”
OFFSHORE
As regards the long-term hypothesis of a port outside the lagoon, for the politician it is a complex hypothesis: “We’ll see if the solution will be offshore or something else.” The approach is that of “step-by-step”: «Today we struggle to do dredging in canals that until 40 years ago were dredged without problems. I believe that first of all we need to start simplifying things and understand that if this country stops thinking about the future it risks losing its past too.”
CRUISE CRUISE
The theme of cruises and passengers could not be missing: «Cruise tourism in the upper Adriatic does not exist without Venice. That’s the real risk. Even the logistics chain of Veneto companies without the port would be put at very high risk.” Reasons why «we must find choices without ideological motivations. Today we have to deal with the world. I am not in favor of those who say they do nothing, because by not doing anything we are dead.”
In general, there is therefore a need to «Overcoming a situation which has become rigid and which risks not allowing the development of a geographical area which has represented for our country one of the few areas which on a global level has become central to development. Veneto today is one of the most dynamic areas of the country. We cannot help but make this situation grow because we will have a very heavy rebound at a national level and therefore, given that the continent is not growing and that we have unmanageable problems on the European continent, today any goods entering or leaving the European continent pass by sea”.
