This is how Domenico De Rosa, CEO of the SMET Group, comments on the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) – more commonly known as the Recovery Plan – which contains all the reforms that Italy intends to undertake to revive the national economy, which has been severely tested by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Recovery Plan, illustrated by Prime Minister Mario Draghi, envisages total financing for Italy of 221.1 billion euros, of which 191.5 billion from European Union funds, including subsidies and low-interest loans, and 30.6 billion from internal resources, to be used by 2026. «The future of Italy, says De Rosa, cannot disregard the major works, which must remedy a serious infrastructure deficit».

Under the heading “Infrastructure for sustainable mobility”, the Plan allocates 25.3 billion euros, most of which will be used to make the road and motorway network safe and efficient and to implement high-speed rail. «The interventions on the railway network identified by the plan, including the improvement of transit on the Rome-Reggio Calabria, the strengthening of the lines to Liguria, the works of adduction between Verona and Brenner – continues De Rosa – are strategic, as are the renewal of freight wagons and locomotives. The railway, together with maritime connections, is an integral part of the development of intermodal transport, the potential of which our group is one of the first in Europe to understand in terms of efficiency and environmental sustainability. Today we operate 16 company trains a week on the railways».

Then there is the geographical position of the country, which used to be Italy’s largest natural logistics platform in the Mediterranean: the natural candidate for becoming the arrival and departure point for goods transport by sea. According to the latest Sea Report, dated 2019, the maritime sector in Italy has an economic weight of 34.3 billion in added value with 185 thousand direct employment units. But until now the “sea resource” has lacked an organised strategy at national level. In this regard, precisely in conjunction with the Recovery Plan, Confindustria has produced a National Strategic Plan that affirms the importance of the sea’s economic viability and outlines the necessary measures, including the infrastructural planning of maritime ports, hinterlands and Special Economic Zones, the necessary institutional reforms, the development of technological innovation and sustainability, and the ability to attract investment through an appropriate tax policy.

«I share the opinion of Confindustria President Carlo Bonomi. For the maritime economy, concludes the helmsman of the SMET Group, the Recovery Plan must coincide with the initial phase of a longer programme, based on four pillars: infrastructure interventions, reforms, technological innovation and taxation. Particular attention should certainly be paid to the south of Italy, since a real recovery cannot be achieved without overcoming the gap between the north and south of the country. I think the proposal of the Euro-Mediterranean logistic Southern Range is excellent, basically a single development system for the southern ports, integrated with the port logistics system of the Centre-North».

Source: Il Mondo dei Trasporti

L'articolo De Rosa speaks on Recovery Plan: this is how we make Italy bigger proviene da SMET.

Commenting on the news concerning the ports of Campania is Domenico De Rosa, CEO of the SMET Group, Europe’s leading intermodal logistics operator, and Chairman of the Motorways of the Sea Commission of ALIS, the Sustainable Intermodal Logistics Association chaired by Guido Grimaldi. Among the most urgent works identified by PNRR are the extension of the breakwater in Naples, dredging in Salerno, and the electrification of the quays in both ports. But Domenico De Rosa looks beyond this and draws attention to the state of disrepair of Italy’s infrastructure.

An efficient port must be connected to the rest of the country by a modern and equally efficient infrastructure network,” comments SMET’s CEO. «The current situation of Italy’s motorways is there for all to see: as of today there is not a single stretch of motorway in Italy that is free of works and ghost construction sites, with serious restrictions on the movement of people and goods. We must not forget that the modernisation of infrastructure is the country’s real priority».
He concludes: «We would like to see an immediate suspension of the motorway toll as long as the free movement of people and goods is hampered by the constant presence of construction sites. This would be a gesture of great responsibility on the part of the operators».

Fonte: Ferpress

L'articolo De Rosa: «Good investments, but room for infrastructure» proviene da SMET.

Domenico De Rosa, CEO of SMET, said: «We welcome the provision in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to destinate 630 million euros for infrastructure investments aimed at ensuring adequate development of the connections between SEZs (Special Economic Zones) and the national transport network, particularly the Trans-European Networks (TEN-T). This of the ZES zones is an extraordinary opportunity for intermodal transport but also for the economic development of entire logistic and semi-industrial districts».

Development but not only. The fear is that we are focusing too much on new works and not enough on the maintenance of existing ones, especially those in the South, which is lagging far behind Northern Italy and even further behind Northern Europe. This is an appeal that De Rosa has already made to the executive in recent months and which risks going unheeded, as well as the issue of the lack of funds for the automotive sector.

«We are sincerely surprised to have to observe the scarcely comprehensible absence of the automotive sector in the PNRR – commented the SMET Administrator critically – We believe that a highly strategic sector such as this is certainly for our country to be at the centre of an effective plan for a real industrial relaunch, and that only in this way can it be valorised as a flywheel for the entire economy and generate work».

L'articolo De Rosa: «NRRP positive but incomprehensible lack of automotive funds» proviene da SMET.