Salaria safe, now or never

• With the Recovery fund 17 billion available for Lazio • The president of the Industrialists also responds to the University: Di Venanzio’s warning: it is unforgivable to miss the opportunity “We want to be part of the governance, courses linked to the territory”

A maxi-investment of 17 billion euros is planned for Lazio to be drawn from the Recovery fund. The president of Unindustria Rieti is clear what part of that money can be used for. “We would not like – explains Alessandro Di Venanzio – not even this time thinking of the Salaria”.

THE INTERVIEW: In these days there has been the tenth anniversary of the establishment of Unindustria, born on 16 December 2010. “They were challenging years, during which increasingly transversal working methods were outlined between the Rome office and all territories. I want to start from this date to thank the presidents Castelli, Stirpe and Merlani for having given life to this important merger ». President Alessandro di Venanzio underlines the work done to make the association of industrialists from Rieti more “strong”, “authoritative” and “listened to”. «Today many of our entrepreneurs are protagonists of the associative life, actively participating in the work of the trade sections, of the technical groups, of the Young Entrepreneurs and of the Small Industry». The president then thanks Dr. Martelli «for the great work she has done and to wish my best wishes to Francesca Rosati who will succeed him».

A maxi-investment of 17 billion euros is planned for Lazio to be drawn from the Recovery fund. Will the Reatino be included in these loans?
“We would not like it not even this time to think about Salaria and to foresee a faster intermodal connection with Rome, it would be an unforgivable mistake. For the earthquake we had asked for at least one billion euros, even here it seems that the proposal has not been accepted, or perhaps it is not included in the guidelines ».

One of his battles was precisely over infrastructure.
«We believe that the completion of the infrastructures expected for years must be guaranteed at the regional level, especially now that the government’s attention is maximum. For Lazio it is necessary to close the railway ring of Rome, the Orte-Civitavecchia, the modernization of the Salaria. On digital infrastructures, we need to focus on broadband and 5G. Without forgetting the importance of a reform that makes the public administration efficient ».

Another point that is important to you is the “reform” of the Sabina universitas.
«We are evaluating our entry, but we want to be part of the governance to share which are the faculties, the specializations that, in our opinion, must be closest to the needs of local businesses. We started a series of meetings with Mayor Cicchetti which will continue by the end of the year ».

And for the younger ones?
“For them we are thinking about the creation of a possible higher technical institute of mechatronics. All this to make our territory more attractive also towards our young people who, often, unable to place themselves here, move to larger cities, such as Rome, thus creating a generational vacuum, also from a professional point of view, which will be difficult to recover if we do not act quickly ».

How did local entrepreneurs react to the first and second waves of the pandemic?
“The companies have responded with great determination, both to face the economic damage and to contain the circulation of the virus in the workplace. The companies have already activated stringent safety protocols since March, drawn up by the experts and approved in agreement with the trade unions. The productive world was not caught unprepared and has resisted until now demonstrating a great capacity for resilience, especially in an area already hard hit by the earthquake like ours ».

In the Reatino area, about one company out of three has found itself and is still in a precarious liquidity situation. Which sectors are the most penalized.
“Among the sectors where there are strong critical issues certainly the tourism industry, the audiovisual industry, the food industry that loses a distribution channel with bars and restaurants closed, but also our exports have suffered a setback, just think that in the first half of the year it fell over 20 per cent ».

Source: Il Messaggero di Rieti