Railways, Sardinia left behind. Solinas: "The state takes action to close the gap"

" Sardinia has been cut off from railway development plans and the Region is ready to oppose if, faced with a disadvantage that affects Sardinian economic development, the State proves deaf and unwilling to activate those necessary and urgent rebalancing measures and resource allocation plans that do not take into account Sardinia's railway infrastructure deficit ".

This was stated by the President of the Region Christian Solinas during the hearing, in videoconference, with the Public Works Commission of the Senate .

THE SARDINIAN GAP - In his speech, the governor listed the criticalities and problems of Sardinia as regards infrastructures and railway connections.

"The island had to be given the opportunity to align itself with the rest of the country - pointed out Solinas - but we acknowledge the fact that this was not the case . For this reason we will oppose in all offices and with every instrument to plans for the allocation of resources that do not take into account the need to remove the inequalities that divide the islanders from the rest of the citizens of the mainland ".

Solinas has repeatedly emphasized the "infrastructural gap" that weighs on the island, particularly in the railway sector. "A widely documented disadvantage - he said - that together with insularity must be adequately considered in the allocation of the infrastructure equalization fund (4.6 million euros) which must represent an opportunity for rebalancing between Sardinia and the other Italian regions with regard to infrastructure equipment, including those related to railway mobility ".

THE INDICATORS - "Once the country's infrastructure index is 100, Sardinia is 50 and the situation in the railway system is even worse - explained the President - It is worried that we are witnessing proposals formulated by the individual regions and presented to the various coordination tables which lead to subverting the reality of things, indicating Sardinia among the regions that would least need equalization ". Hence the position of the Region: "So it happens - he said - that an attempt is made to outline an apparent and completely illusory advantage of the island over the other regions , which determines the proposed assignment of a ridiculous 2.56% of the endowment, with the penultimate island among the regions with more than 1,000,000 inhabitants and further penalized compared to regions that are already much more structured today, recipients of additional funding up to five times higher than what was hypothesized for Sardinia. - he continued - will oppose any proposal of this kind which is harmful and not very respectful of the dignity of the Sardinian people ".

Figures in hand, the situation of the Sardinian railways is eloquent: "The endowment of railway infrastructures by surface, equal to about 18 kilometers per thousand square kilometers, is the lowest among the Italian regions and far below the Italian average of 56 kilometers by thousands of square kilometers. Suffice it to remember that Sardinia is 24,000 square kilometers in size ", explained Solinas.

And again: "The endowment of railway infrastructures per inhabitants is among the lowest in Italy and lower than the national average in the railway sector of 283 kilometers per million inhabitants ." Third indicator highlighted again by President Solinas during the hearing: "The electrified sections on a national basis represent 71.9%. In Sardinia not even one meter of line is electrified and therefore we are at zero ".

Fourth indicator: "The double-track sections in the country represent 46.1% of the total extension of the network, but in Sardinia they barely reach 12%".

DISADVANTED ISLAND - "The infrastructural disadvantage of Sardinia - summarizes the governor in the light of the data - penalizes the socio-economic development of the island and is not in the least relieved by the funding of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan which results as yet another opportunity stolen from development of the Island. The interventions that the Sardinia Region has proposed in the various institutional offices involved in the implementation of the NRP have received a very limited reception . What is unacceptable - continued President Solinas - is that one of the fundamental reasons for which the Union Europea recognized in the Next generation EU and in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for Italy a large part of the resources is connected to the need to overcome the inequality and the infrastructural gap between the North and South of the country. unfortunately used in many cases to further improve conditions of roads in the country that are already decidedly more advanced ".

(Unioneonline / lf)