Infrastructure, drought, jobs, raw materials, investments, energy.
A comprehensive speech by Alessandra Todde who was heard today by the Insularity Committee as part of the Parliament's fact-finding inquiry into the identification of disadvantages arising from insularity.
Railways and highways
Sardinia, the president said, "is the Region with the lowest infrastructure index in Italy, 50.5 points out of 100 against 78.8 in the rest of the South". It is the European island "geographically most isolated, with 1,580,000 residents dispersed in 68 inhabitants per square kilometer", which creates "discontinuity, delays and weakness in connections".
"The lack of investment has repercussions internally and affects the development of the territories, creating the effect of an island within an island", added Todde, also recalling that Sardinia has no highways and has "crumbling and uncompetitive" railways. Yet, "it does not appear to have benefited from any system infrastructure intervention".
Energy
No mention of the wind assault but the request to "review the limitations" on energy communities. "The high cost of energy and logistics are brakes on development and make us less competitive. Energy communities for businesses and citizens have, for example, a maximum limit of one megawatt, in island territories it needs to be reviewed because transport costs are higher".
Drought
The water emergency. The governor recalls last summer as one of the most problematic and observes that the trend is not improving. «The Sardinian network exceeds 50% of losses with peaks of 70%. In the regions of Baronia and Origliasso thousands of citizens had water for only two hours a day, it is not tolerable in a G7 member country. It is necessary for the State to take action».
Transport
Always a central theme. "We demand a greater financial commitment from the State, we must give priority to air and sea accessibility, at least as they do in France and Spain", Todde stressed.
Raw materials
Another hot topic, given that the Region has recently challenged the government decree declared the "preeminent national interest in the supply" of raw materials of strategic interest. "The State by taking over the exploitation of quarries and mines creates a problem with the Sardinian Statute. The development of the Region continues to be overshadowed by a centralist approach", says the governor, before moving on to the Sulcis case. "It remains one of the poorest regions in all of Europe, no to the exploitation of its resources without a shared development plan".
Spending capacity
"We have a low birth rate and an exponential increase in the average age. Pensions exceed salaries. For years the Region and the State have programmed resources inefficiently, which has led to a very low spending capacity. The current picture of development programming - explained Todde - tells us that only 47 percent of what was allocated has been spent. About 300 million interventions will be defunded. We need a paradigm shift that does not reduce the Regions to implementing bodies in order not to condemn the island Regions to underdevelopment".
School and work
«We are the Region with the highest number of NEETs, young people inactive in training and work, but we are among the most affected by cuts for school sizing».
Einstein Telescope
A passage also on the Sos Enattos project: «State and Region work together to attract specialized workforce and development in the territories, it is being done well and should become a best practice».
(Online Union)
