It was supposed to be an “extraordinary intervention”. It turned into an extraordinary flop: the Municipality of Cagliari tore up the contract worth one and a half million euros (2.4 of those made available at the start) with the company “Catizone geom. Pietro Fiore” which was supposed to carry out the major redevelopment of Viale Sant'Avendrace. Not only that: the agreement signed on 15 October 2020 also provided for the reconstruction of "the transversal road network, aimed at connecting the Tuvixeddu archaeological park, the neighborhood and the San Paolo area intended for an equipped urban sports and educational park" . The works have been stopped for 4 months. And what was achieved was 245 days behind schedule. Today the irrevocable decision of the municipal manager of the sector, Daniele Olla: contract terminated and guarantee enforced.
The act also retraces the stages of a construction site that started badly - three years ago, when the contract was signed - and ended up worse. The "keys" were delivered on March 12, 2021. The work was due to be completed on March 7 of the following year. A year of inconveniences to redesign the roads, create cycle paths and redevelop the main road of Sant'Avendrace.
The first hitch dates back to 21 October 2021: «The works were suspended to prepare a variant survey which included interventions on the water network and which simultaneously resolved some critical issues that emerged during the execution». Which ones are not written there. But it is said that the passage of public transport, which was underestimated, needed to be fixed. Furthermore, Abbanoa had to be involved for the replacement of pipes . The variant is only approved in November 2022. And the costs also increase, by around 130 thousand euros. We arrive at the following June, when a new "deed of submission" is signed: the new price is one million and 447 thousand euros and the expected date for the end of the intervention is postponed to March 1, 2023 (one year after the initial ).
Let's start once again? I can't imagine: the restart of the workers' activity is only certified on January 13th of this year. The company signs the return report, but with reservations. Because he claims that Abbanoa's intervention compromised "the productivity of the construction site". In short: he already knew that it was impossible to complete the work by March 1st.
And, according to the minutes, he put a lot of effort into not respecting the deadlines. In Olla's deed we read that in January and February «the company, despite the reassurances provided, did not guarantee the presence on site of adequate workers and consequently, despite repeated requests from the director of works, Alessandro Innocenti and, in particular , the one referred to in the service order of 27 January, which remained unanswered, left the construction site in a state of total abandonment, compromising safety in the area subject to intervention".
The end has already begun, the collapse turns into a race towards the precipice. In March, the company Avr arrived to put a patch, tasked by the Municipality with plugging the potholes. At the expense, obviously, of the company that had opened them.
On the 17th of that month, work resumed again and a new presumed end date: October 2023. The current month. We arrive in May and things change again: the company "has sent a further work schedule of 256 days expiring in January 2024, ensuring the use of three teams of workers at the same time to make up for the accumulated delay".
The promise turns out to be in vain. The manager writes: «Between the end of May and the beginning of July there are no significant progressions in progress, the works proceed slowly and with the use of a single team made up of three or four workers which does not allow compliance of the assessment timetable ".
We arrive in July. Municipality and company meet on site. It emerges that "there were no work vehicles such as excavators or trucks present and the few jobs were carried out exclusively with hand equipment, which was completely insufficient to carry out the work envisaged by the project".
A report is drawn up from which "it is clear that the success of the service is now compromised, due to serious delay and non-compliance in execution".
The company's offices and technicians change various documentation. On October 18, nine days ago, "a delay of 245 days was accumulated out of a total of 413 days of work envisaged in the variant assessment". The company tries to justify itself. But the times are biblical. And even Job would have lost his proverbial patience. Traders and residents certainly don't have them anymore. And not even in the Municipality: "negligent" company, torn contract.
