Controversy erupts between the Region and Anas over the never-realized project to secure the Sulcitana State Road 195 by installing storm surge barriers.

The casus belli are some statements made last Friday to L'Unione Sarda by Salvatore Campione, head of the ANAS Sardinia Territorial Unit . After the devastating passage of Cyclone Harry , which caused traffic to be interrupted on the main road, Campione stated that the project had been planned by ANAS, but that "the Environment Department never had the will to build the roadbed."

Three days later, a sharp response arrived from the Regional Department for Environmental Protection , which in a note expressed "astonishment and deep concern" at Campione's statements, which it deemed "serious, unfounded and untrue".

"The statements made by Anas," commented Councilor Rosanna Laconi , "and its regional representative in Sardinia do not correspond to the facts and risk spreading inaccurate information about a public procedure that requires fairness, responsibility, and respect for documentary evidence and citizens from all parties involved."

"The Department of Environmental Protection, as Anas well knows, has operated in compliance with the regulations governing these procedures and with full institutional loyalty , ensuring every useful and necessary collaborative contribution, to protect the safety of citizens and an area of high environmental value," reads a statement released by Villa Devoto.

The department then retraces the project's progress: "Already in an official note dated July 14, 2020, therefore over five years ago, the Environmental Assessment Service of the Sardinia Region had formally communicated to ANAS that the proposed intervention on the SS 195, due to its size, location, and type of planned works, should be subject to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Impact Assessment (VIncA) procedures , as it falls within an area subject, by express regulatory provision and not by discretionary assessments by the offices, to specific environmental and landscape protection regimes." «Despite this clear framework, – it is added – Anas activated the request to verify the subjection to EIA only in 2024 , almost four years after the regional communication, filing project documentation that substantially proposed the same solutions already known, in particular the construction of a rigid breakwater along the coast , without overcoming the critical issues already highlighted in the preliminary framework».

Furthermore, the Region's statement continues, "During the investigation, the Regional Environmental Protection Service operated with maximum institutional cooperation, ensuring technical meetings, justified requests for additional information, and procedural extensions, in the sole interest of a correct and complete assessment of the project's environmental impacts. The requested additional information did not represent a bureaucratic obstacle, but was essential to properly assess the impacts on coastal erosion, sediment dynamics, protected habitats, and the landscape, as required by national and European legislation ," the statement continues. "Contrary to what Engineer Campione stated, there is no evidence that the Region ever withheld data or prevented the studies from being carried out : on the contrary, the documentation produced by Anas was deemed incomplete and inadequate given the complexity of the proposed project. It is important to remember that producing environmental studies is the responsibility of the proponent, not the competent assessment authority."

In short, Laconi adds, "the procedure was not 'blocked' by the Region: it was archived in December 2024 at the explicit request of ANAS, which stated its intention to proceed with a comprehensive review of the project and then submit a new application. To date, no new project has been filed with the relevant regional offices." Therefore, "it seems unacceptable to attribute to the Region or the Department of Environmental Protection responsibilities that pertain exclusively to the choices, timing, and decisions of ANAS."

Furthermore, the statement continues, "The Regional Department for Environmental Protection firmly reiterates that it has always operated in strict compliance with the law, protecting the public interest, the safety of citizens, and the protection of its environmental heritage, and rejects any attempt to shift responsibilities that do not fall to them onto other entities." Finally, the statement concludes, "The Region remains open to institutional discussion, but will not accept partial or biased reconstructions of the facts , which risk disorienting public opinion and compromising a debate that should instead be based on clearly identifiable data, actions, and responsibilities."

(Unioneonline)

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