The process for Cagliari's new stadium continues, but a new question mark now hangs over the project . Opposition city councilor (CiViCa 2024) and lawyer Giuseppe Farris is raising doubts. In a lengthy social media post, he analyzes the City's approach to managing the project for the future Rossoblu stadium . According to Farris, the main issue concerns the timing of the technical and legal consultancy services entrusted by the city administration as part of the project . "When a municipality grants a public area for 50 years and when a project costing hundreds of millions of euros is under discussion, technical assessments should come before political decisions ," the councilor writes.
The reference is to the April 1st meeting between the Municipality and Cagliari Calcio delegations, during which the so-called "white smoke" was reportedly reached on the agreement regarding the concession fee, estimated at an average of €150,000 per year. The councilor emphasizes, however, that "after that date, however, the Municipality" continued "to commission consultancy services and receive essential appraisals to assess the economic and legal feasibility of the operation. A consultancy appraisal, worth approximately €20,000, was only submitted on April 14th, therefore after the agreement on the fee." Added to this was an appraisal of the residual value of the works and urban developments, worth approximately €12,000, which arrived on May 5th, and a "further legal and specialist assignment awarded on May 4th, worth approximately €200,000."
"The total bill exceeds €230,000 in public consultancy fees," the city councilor emphasizes, posing a question he describes as "not polemical, but institutional": if the agreement had already been reached on April 1st, what role would subsequent consultancy services have had? According to Farris, the difference is significant: " In the first case, we're dealing with a normal investigation. In the second, we're dealing with a questionable method ."
The replica
City Councilor for Sport Giuseppe Macciotta responded immediately: "The concerns raised by Councilor Farris once again prove to be unnecessarily alarmist and unfounded . The use of a consultant with particular expertise in public-private partnerships, born and raised in Cagliari but who has been successfully working across the peninsula for years, does not reflect any weakness but rather demonstrates the administration's willingness to provide its managers engaged in this delicate and complex process with maximum support," he stated.
Lawyer Velia Leone, the council member explains, will provide legal assistance to the offices during the initial phase of the existing professional relationship "in order to initiate the public tender process for the design, construction, and management of the new Cagliari stadium, and in particular to complete the related and consequent formalities following the legal and procedural assessment of the proposal received."
In a "possible" second phase, the company will be able to provide its consultancy to the administration, including in the upcoming preparation of the tender notice, supporting the Municipality through all subsequent phases. For the professional services related to the first phase, it will be paid "a net fee of €80,500.00," and in the possible second phase, €57,500.00, which will obviously be paid only if the requested services are actually performed."
The administration, therefore, operates "within a framework of prudence, utmost rigor, and absolute legality. The alleged agreement of last April, inappropriately referenced several times, concerns exclusively the administration's acknowledgement of the applicant company's acceptance of the binding indications provided regarding the fee, the impossibility of private management of the parking lots, and the Municipality's unwillingness to grant a mortgage on the property being developed. However, this acknowledgement could only be followed by a rigorous feasibility assessment by the competent offices of the Economic and Financial Plan submitted by the applicant company. In this regard, we await, within the timeframes deemed necessary by the relevant officials, the issuance of the required technical and accounting compliance opinions in order to proceed with the council's examination of the resolution that will govern the Council's authorization of the building rights and the declaration of public interest for the project. At that point, it will be possible to launch the tender, which is expected to perfectly meet the timeframe indicated by UEFA.
(Unioneonline)