Flood risk, six years to complete a work

The Sardinian case

On the Internal Monitoring and Control System of the Sardinian Region, the SMEC, the managers in charge of examining procedures and expenditure on projects relating to the prevention of hydrogeological risk write: «Compared to other databases that cross-reference data already entered in other systems, the SMEC, the Monitoring system of the Region, would represent for the implementing bodies a fulfillment not only onerous in terms of time, but also of complicated execution because the configuration of the system is "blocking", but at the same time it is not able to represent all the aspects of complexity of the long process of planning, designing and implementing the interventions».

Tamp the water

«An excessively "articulated and cumbersome" system, as the SMEC has been defined, (it has been said "it seems that the purpose of what is being done has been lost") in the end is a disincentive» – is written in the document. As if to say "you step on water", without an end and without a reason. The result is in the numbers of public expenditure for hydrogeological risk works, not cycle paths, but strategic interventions capable of saving human lives and avoiding new disasters.

“buried” channels

It is enough to read the data of the report on the buried canals scattered far and wide across Sardinia to understand what is happening: «Looking at the progress of the projects financed for the buried canals - it is written in the regional dossier - a strong expense data issues. As of 31 January 2021, (last check available ed.), in fact, according to the information uploaded to the regional monitoring system, of the 23 projects planned, around a third (8 projects) recorded commitments exceeding 70% of the admitted cost, while for all the others commitments did not reach 20% (12 projects) or even nothing was committed (3 projects).'

The primacy of delay

It gets worse. On the timing of all hydrogeological interventions, according to the internal evaluation nucleus in viale Trento, «the Sardinia region, on an analysis conducted on 77 lots, which are "completed" as at 31 December 2019, shows an average total duration of 5.9 years, against the national average of 4.8».

Bitti & Olbia, zero

A truly unenviable record if we consider that most of the most important projects, those concerning the areas most affected by the most catastrophic floods, in order of time, Olbia and Bitti, are at a standstill, i.e. construction sites that have never started. For Olbia, after the flood of November 18, 2013, 125 million have been allocated, the Roman monitoring shows flat expenditure encephalogram. The regional governance, amid clashes and controversies, has not managed to spend even a single euro. In Bitti, a double tragedy, 2013 and 2020, there are a good 70 million euros of appropriations, also in this case zero expenditure. With the country always in the balance, between proclamations and strategic construction sites that have never begun. One designs everywhere, with a slow pace, with biblical times hoping for the mercy of the weather, the meteorological one.