A real escape. Yet another, as befits Eni in the land of Sardinia. This time, after having sold the chemical plants of Macchiareddu, the State Body is about to "sell" the concession of the Conti Vecchi salt pans in the splendid scenery of the Stagno Santa Gilla. Escape plan, of course, as required by the state manual, not to be leaked, to be kept under wraps so as not to undermine the magnificence of the oil giant. Yet for some hours now, in the expanse of salt between Cagliari, Assemini and Capoterra, rumors have been chasing each other, taking on the contours of a decision already taken. Even Eni's number one, Claudio De Scalzi, landed in the land of salt on 26 May 2017. The intent, in favor of cameras, was to "strut" the beauty of the scenery and the importance of the salt industry.

Promises & goodbyes

The manager of the "six-legged dog" then declared himself ready for millionaire investments, both in production and environmental terms, including some solar panels, just to supplement the profits. After all, the Region opens its doors wide when it hears about Eni. Everything they ask for must be given. And, in fact, on April 3, 2018, the regional council, President Pigliaru, approved "the project for the cultivation and environmental recovery of the mining concession for the production of common salt". De Scalzi does not have the reputation of being shy. In the conversation with the Region, without turning red, he asks that the concession expiring in 2021 be renewed prematurely. No sooner said than done. In 2019, the mining concession, with an area of 2,615 hectares, is renewed. Until 2046. Twenty-five years from the expiry. One, at that point, imagines that a State Body like Eni, faced with a new concession of that magnitude, plans new investments, puts in place a real enhancement, both on an environmental and production level. Instead, none of this. The top management decided: to unload the last productive bulwark in the land of Sardinia. In a meeting without papers and with words not to be recorded, the new manager of Conti Vecchi Spa, Eni group, Pierfilippo Mocciaro, informs the representatives of the RSU: there are at least four expressions of interest to take over the concession of the salt pans.

Get lost

The union representatives are displaced by an announcement that is not only sudden but which does not seem to leave room for second thoughts. In the face of the great floor of the salt of Eng. Luigi Conti Vecchi who, with a 1921 concession, carried out one of the most important production-naturalistic projects on the island, designing and building the great salt pans of Cagliari. A history marked by ambitious plans and broken promises, up to the disposal of important chemical supply chains linked to salt. First with Sir and then with Eni, the result does not change. The logic of profit, and the subsequent divestments in Sardinia, are a constant.

First they exploit

They exploit as long as it is convenient and, then, immediately after escaping without a shot being fired. The abandonment plan is defined: four international competitors are ready who will definitively take the management of the salt pans out of the island. Before it was the French who "snatched" the salt pans of S.Antioco, putting them under the dominion of the multinational "Salins", now the assault is all aimed at Santa Gilla. Eni, therefore, once received the renewal of the concession by the Region, puts the concession just obtained on the market. An unprecedented institutional slap in the face of a public institution that has renewed a concession on the basis of a production maintenance and enhancement plan that has proved non-existent. In recent months, with an investigation by the Sardinian Union, we had told, with unpublished and exclusive documents, the great escape plan of the state body, including the escape from the salt pans. There were denials and reassurances, with many declared reclamations but of which little is still seen today. In the same concession, among other things, it was compulsory to provide for the contextual management of the salt pans with the chlorine-soda plants.

He is in charge of Eni

Eni went ahead on its way and sold the Macchiareddu plants to a company created just a few months earlier to "inherit" that factory. Today it is the turn of the salt flats. In the investigation published last March, we revealed that the top management of Enirewind, an Eni company that holds 100% of the shares in Conti Vecchi, had already met Atlantic Trade & Export, a Spanish company ready to acquire the refining plant of the salt of Santa Gilla.

Foreigners

However, among the pretenders to Sardinian salt, in Eni's no-trace communications, there are not only the Spaniards. In the field there would be the French of Salins, the Austrians of Salzburg, owners of the mines of Salgemma and, finally, the Sicilians of Italkali. Companies and multinationals that have always had an unspeakable interest: to dominate the market. With a double objective: to make the most of the plants without new investments and, then, to close the shutters to remain absolute monopolists in their own countries, governing the market and prices. After all, the salt pans of Cagliari have not registered any modernization interventions for decades. Therefore, Eni's escape has a double reason: the gain is not that of oil and the investments to be made are not considered attractive. There is a question that for the moment remains without official answer: why did the State Body demand and obtain the renewal of the concession until 2046? Those 400,000 tons of salt that are baked every year in Santa Gilla are no longer of interest to Eni. The mechanism in Sardinia is consolidated: after the activities have exploited them, they surrender them, and run away from responsibilities. And of course the multinationals arrive, most of the time foreign. It remains to be seen whether the Region in the renewal of the concession has protected itself or, rather, has protected that productive and naturalistic compendium. One thing is certain: we are facing the umpteenth flight, silent and shameless, of the State Body. This time with the mockery of a newly renewed concession.

Mauro Pili

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