Arcisate-Stabio, “We can’t take this anymore,” the Mayors say

The news of resolution of the contract for the construction of the Arcisate-Stabio rail link reached the mayors in the area via the press. There was no official communication from the railway company, or even from authorities higher up, and this, if indeed possible, increased the exasperation in this area, which has been devastated by the railway.

So, after hopes were relit by the recent go-ahead from CIPE (the Italian Interdepartmental Committee for Economic Planning), the dream of seeing the work finished soon has been brusquely interrupted with a communication from RFI: stop the work, and make a new call for bids to give the work to a different construction company.

As the release giving the news was circulating, the President of Varese Province, Gunnar Vincenzi, who is also the Mayor of Cantello, which is also affected by the construction work, was at the Ministry of Transport, for a technical meeting about Malpensa. During a free moment, he spoke with the Minister, Maurizio Lupi, to arrange the meeting that had been promised to the mayors in Valceresio. The date decided upon is apparently 11 December, and the meeting is required to discuss the developments at the construction site; once the date had been established, it was discovered that the halt had already been decided.

“I’m bitter and angry,” the Mayor of Induno Olona, Marco Cavallin, explained. “I was waiting to be called by the Minister for a discussion and, instead, I discovered that it had already been decided that work should stop and the contract resolved. This decision is unacceptable for us, because the situation will result in a total halt on the work for 6 months to a year, plus the necessary time to complete everything.”

The Mayor of nearby Arcisate, Angelo Pierebon, who is even more plagued by the work on the site, said, “It’s not the job of a mayor to get involved in a contract like this, because I don’t have the information to judge it; whoever did, must accept his or her responsibilities, but even a minimum of correctness and style would have required at least a telephone call to those who represent the area, so that we can inform the people.”

“At this time, we really need to say something concrete to the people,” President Vincenzi explained. “The situation is becoming heated, and we need extreme clarity and certainty about times.”

“Someone has made a mistake here, and it’s not up to me to say who it is,” Mayor Cavallin continued, “but I join the people to say that the Italian taxpayers and people of Valceresio should not have to pay for these mistakes. Until yesterday, I was still hoping for a solution, but today, I think those who say that things don’t work in Italy are right.”