In the midst of a pandemic, Virginia Raggi asks for 300 mln from the Recovery to make the Tiber navigable

What are the priorities of the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, for the post-Covid? In the midst of the pandemic, the mayor is thinking about how to make the Tiber navigable, and in order to see the waters of the blond river plowed by bateau-mouches that will scamper tourists to offer them a replica of the boat tours of Paris, Vienna or Budapest, the first citizen is asking for 300 million euros from the Recovery Fund.

The route will be 60 kilometers (37 miles) long and will start from the tourist port of Fiumicino and go into the center of the capital: the intervention plan has been proposed by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital, and it seems it will be included in the Recovery Plan that the government will send to Europe to access Next Generation EU funds (this is the official name of the Recovery Fund). The 300 million will be used to build the infrastructure for navigation and docking, necessary reclamation, securing the docks, and environmental remediation of the river.

“This is a very respectable project,” Virginia Raggi put in her hands at the press conference, “that allows us to maintain the charm of the river, with its changes of landscape and vegetation along the way, making it navigable by green means. We can use the leverage of the Recovery Plan to do this. The 300 million is necessary funding for the whole infrastructure part, these are complex but not complicated engineering works.”

“We want Rome, as happens in other European capitals such as Paris, Vienna and Budapest,” the mayor added, “to have its navigable river with electric boats available to citizens and tourists. It will be a unique itinerary that goes through the history of our capital to the mouth of the Tiber. The river represents a precious resource for the city, and thanks to this plan we will be able to exploit its full potential. A strategic work for Rome, an important project that has been discussed for decades and that now, thanks to the use of European funds, is becoming more and more concrete.”

“The one promoted by the MIT in collaboration with the Metropolitan City of Rome,” is echoed by the undersecretary for transport, Roberto Traversi, also a Pentastellist, “is an ambitious intervention plan that, starting from some of the projects carried out and then abandoned in the last thirty years, pulls the strings of a long work and updates the list of works and works necessary to ensure the return to navigability of the river. Characteristic element of this plan are the resources made available by Europe with the Recovery Fund and the directing role played by the MIT: in fact, we are convinced that this work, its ”green“ aspect and the innovation it represents for public transport in the Capital fully respond to the missions indicated by Europe for the best use of the Recovery Package funds. Never more than this time can we say that the project to bring back navigation on the Tiber from the mouth all the way into the historic heart of the Capital is really feasible.”

In the midst of a pandemic, Virginia Raggi asks for 300 mln from the Recovery to make the Tiber navigable

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.