Olbia, eleven years after Cyclone Cleopatra, work is still underway on the safety plan

Eleven years after Cleopatra's fury on November 18 that cost the lives of nine people , since 2013 Olbia has been dealing with the failure to implement a plan to make it safe .

After the passage of Cyclone Cleopatra, in relation to the hydrogeological danger, the various unblockings, see the ramp of the Rio Siligheddu, and the demolition and reconstruction of bridges, from the one on via Galvani to the one on via Petta, are nothing but precautions. The works for the mitigation of the risk had to wait for the drafting of the Hydrogeological Planning Plan (and subsequent variations) which took two years, the rejection in the Region of a project (Mancini) too impactful from an environmental point of view and the drafting of a new plan, entrusted to Technital spa, started in 2022.

The plan is now lying, in the preliminary phase, among the papers of the regional commission for the Environmental Impact Assessment, awaiting the feedback on the observations made in the Conference of Services, last July.

"We are working on the investigations needed to respond to the observations made by various bodies that concern many aspects, from the construction site and its impacts, including the use of certain construction site vehicles, to the additional field investigations: we expect to deliver the findings by the end of the year ", explains engineer Simone Venturini, father of the project "Olbia and its waters" that would secure the municipal territory with two drainage channels that push excess water out of the city.

"These days, we are busy with a vegetation survey that consists of counting all the shrubs that should be removed along the paths of the new drainage channels, and with a characterization survey of the destination areas of the excavation materials, precisely in the area behind the Pittulongu beach where we plan to reuse the dredging material from the excavations by restoring the original dune cordon", added Venturini.

Once all the surveys have been delivered, it will be necessary to wait for the favorable opinion of environmental compatibility and the subsequent passage to the Regional Council for its approval which will give the green light to the drafting of the executive project.

It is difficult to predict the timing of the tender for the works which, once contracted, should return a safe city within two years.