The Municipality of Porto Torres has awarded the contract for the safety and system restoration of 49 public housing units , delivered to Porto Torres in May 2019 by the then Wheeler administration . A legal case erupted due to the serious structural problems identified within the first few days of their inauguration , just seven years ago. The intervention became necessary after the current Mulas administration took charge of the situation, which was at risk of escalating due to the structural problems affecting the apartments in the Via Falcone e Borsellino area, with some balconies at risk of collapse.
The work was awarded to the contractor Euroimpianti Sas di Francesco Luigi Demontis , for a total contract value of approximately €264,000. The legal proceedings began in March 2023 when, with a management order, the Municipality imposed a ban on the balconies of 23 residential units. These external verandas were propped up with scaffolding to preserve the condition of the premises and to ascertain any possible construction defects and the potential liability of the construction company, Holzfanil srl, based in Gravina di Bari. The company had won the €5 million contract, €700,000 of which was paid by the Municipality.
On April 7, 2023, the Holzfanil company had failed to eliminate the construction defects, despite warnings from the RUP and the municipal manager. Therefore, it was urgent to request a technical assessment at the Sassari Civil Court to determine the causes of the construction defects and attempt an out-of-court settlement between the parties.
In the meantime, to address the serious critical issues, the city council had engaged attorney Piras for a preliminary technical consultation, with the aim of avoiding the statute of limitations for taking legal action against the construction company. Identifying the works required to address the reported and highlighted critical issues allows them to be quantified at a total of €930,590, nearly €1 million in costs that the Sassari Court has proposed split between the parties involved. The , so much so that the city administration, for reasons of public interest, urgently initiated planning to proceed with securing the housing, where the interiors and exterior structures are at risk, thus putting an end to the enormous hardship endured by the beneficiaries of the ERP housing.
