The most urgent changes to the urban plan?
Diego Corrias: «The Puc is a dynamic instrument, it is natural that it evolves. After the approval by the first Five Star Council, we launched the detailed plan of the historical centre, then we moved on to the expansion areas. This is the general picture that has already produced the first results: around 200 authorizations have been issued for redevelopment interventions in the historic area. There was an indirect and important effect for private individuals who were able to access public funding linked to the detailed plan. As far as zone B is concerned, the result was equally remarkable, with the amnesty of the buildings built before the Puc. Today I think it is necessary to focus on urban quality by allowing private individuals who want to invest to have all the tools available, simplifying the bureaucratic part".
Niside Muscas: «One of the characteristics of the PUC is the distribution of wealth. In Assemini, on the other hand, the approval created poverty. Let me explain: citizens thought it was an economic advantage to own land promoted from an agricultural area to an artisanal area, but unfortunately it was not made attractive with public infrastructures. Moral: the owners have only paid more taxes with the Imu. It is a problem which the next Municipal Council will have to deal with with targeted interventions».
Mario Puddu: «For years the Councils fell on the Puc: our Administration managed to approve it. Of course, once you reach your goal you have to give it legs. For years we have seen projects, beautiful projects, but only those. It is true that if the land changes only its intended use, they burden citizens more with taxes without any real benefit".
The city loses residents, other Municipalities grow. The solution?
Corrias: «It is a widespread demographic trend, there is no Assemini case. Some time ago the problem was in central Sardinia, now it also affects densely populated areas. Assemini has a more mature real estate market than other emerging centres, houses cost more, so it has to focus on urban quality. The new lots in the artisan area, for example, will be able to bring back companies that have moved their business elsewhere over the years. We have to give the tools to these micro-enterprises that have made the history of the city. And where there are businesses, a lively economic fabric, services also flourish».
Muscas: «It is a sad and soulless city, people run away because there is no life nor urban quality. First we have to give the services, then the businesses will come. We restore the sprint and luster that the city has lost, with small events, streets where you can walk without having to go to Cagliari, closing a street once a month to do small businesses. The city needs to be colorful again».
Puddu: «It happens in Assemini but also in other centres. The task of those who administer is to create the conditions for development, between 2013 and 2018 our council put in place various initiatives, in recent times some polish has also been lost due to Covid. There are some riches that are not perceived as such, I am thinking of the salt pans and Gutturu Mannu».
Is the industrial area of Macchiareddu still a resource?
Corrias: «It is the largest industrial area in Sardinia. The industry has made the leap to Assemini, from agricultural village to city. It's not a threat, it can't be, but we have the institutional responsibility to design a future with the superordinate bodies".
Muscas: "Employment levels need to be maintained in an area that has guaranteed income to many Assemini families."
Puddu: «It had to be a resource and in many cases it is, but not always. It has given a job to many people, but in some cases it has ruined the environment and made us lose our identity, we have lost our relationship with the land and abandoned the lagoon. In disputes to save jobs we are often at the forefront but we have to face multinationals that only look at the figures. We need to create the right climate for investment, the rest doesn't depend on us».
Why should tourists come to Assemini?
Corrias: «We don't define ourselves as a tourist municipality, but we can be. Our portion of the Gutturu mannu regional park is beautiful, we need to enhance the food production of the reserve. We have the ambition to return the San Leone iron mine to use, today it is managed by a legal fund. And then there is the peculiarity of ceramics, the two Councils of the Five Stars have made major investments in this sector. I would add that for cruise passengers it is the closest center to reach».
Muscas: «The tourists are already coming, they are foreigners and know the area better than the inhabitants of Assemini, unfortunately they find the roads broken. We have the San Leone mine, 600 thousand euros would be enough to acquire it; we are in the geo-mining park, there is the lagoon, but everything that the area produces does not end up on the tables of the city's restaurants and pizzerias. Ceramic? Luckily Google Maps exists and anyone can find the shops because we don't even have an app to enhance our treasures. There is nothing to invent, just copy what others have done».
Puddu: «We have never had a tourist tradition, but the Administration must make the city attractive. Tourists who get off the planes should find some photos at the airport showing our beauties, but there is still a lot of work to be done on this. Promotion is an atavistic problem of Sardinia, not only of Assemini».
To the Cacip's idea of a road in the salt marshes area to streamline traffic on the 195, the Superintendency responded by restricting the area. Your opinion?
Corrias: «We've been talking about that road for some time. I don't know the project or the doubts raised by the superintendence».
Muscas: «I think the environment must be protected, we cannot continue to disfigure and give away our territory. Maybe we need to understand if, reconciling interests, the road can be made elsewhere ».
Puddu: «Thanks to nature, the sun and the intuition of Conti Vecchi we enjoy a paradise: I would try to protect and privilege it. I instinctively sympathize with the Superintendence, even if you can't say no to everything».
Work stopped on 130 while people continue to die. A committee was set up in Decimomannu.
Corrias: «It's right that a work should have certain completion times. Unfortunately, the checks are the responsibility of entities far from the territory. The administrators of the Municipalities concerned must be put in a position to assert their own needs, even during the planning phase».
Muscas: «The 130 is an ancient problem, I remember that in 1983 three fellow citizens lost their lives in an accident, including a young municipal employee. There is an urgent need to make that road safe but those who have businesses in that area cannot be made to pay the price for the work and perhaps be punished by the new design».
Puddu: «Compared to the 1980s, with the traffic lights we have slightly mitigated the risks, even if a cyclist died on that road a year ago. Our Administration had a clear idea: overpasses where there are traffic lights. Nothing is moving today, there is great slowness at the regional level despite the appointment of President Solinas as commissioner. It will be a priority to be heard ».
New flooring in the historic center?
Corrias: «It needs to be completely rethought, other resources need to be invested to make it beautiful and functional. Finding the money is not enough, tools must be identified to act quickly. And then we need to build better roads: many were born badly, with an unsuitable substrate that generates holes and endless patches».
Muscas: «Maybe the potholes were only in the historical centre. I believe that it is always necessary to start from the study of the area and build the underground services before the asphalt. It's useless to redo the road surface if you immediately give Open Fiber the authorization to lay the cables underground».
Puddu: «It took effort to design such a useless cobblestone. Obviously it needs to be redone from top to bottom, but the opportunities for meeting in the neighborhood need to be multiplied: if you're not sadistic, living in the center makes you want to improve it».
Hydrogeological risk: the city shakes with every downpour. What hasn't been done and what can be done?
Corrias: «It's one of our strengths. In 2018, in the face of a particularly heavy flood, the neighborhoods historically most at risk held thanks to the work of the Five Star administration. Much remains to be done for the extra-urban area. Now we are intervening with eight million to expand, even with expropriations, the canals, including the Giaccu Meloni whose flooding, in 2018, caused the death of Tamara Maccario. Civil protection plans are also fundamental.
Muscas: «It is a risk that we must take on, the cleaning of the canals must be continuous, not occasional».
Puddu: «During our Administration great attention was given to the hydrogeological plan. A lot has been done, while remaining a central theme, it does not have the seriousness of 2013. Close attention must be paid to civil protection plans, to the communication of emergencies to citizens".
Is it right to tear down the 13 illegal houses built in an area at risk of flooding?
Corrias: «Obviously yes, law and safety must guide administrative action. A mayor must also mitigate the consequences, evaluating case by case.
Muscas: "We wouldn't be good administrators if we went against the sentences."
Puddu: «The application of the law is sacrosanct. The right to housing cannot overshadow the right to people's safety and life".
Does the vote in Assemini have any weight at the regional level?
Corrias: «Definitely yes, in a few months there will be regional and European elections. We are moving in the progressive field by experimenting with an agreement which, if successful, can be replicated at the regional level».
Muscas: «The important thing is to represent the citizens' interest. Whether this will have a regional impact is secondary».
Puddu: «Yes, maybe even too much. Judging by the efforts made by our opponents, it seems that they are investing a lot. We are interested in Assemini, our civic pole has only this interest».
Mark Walnut
Paolo Paolini
