Naples, 1 billion investment for the eastern railway area

The talk of urban regeneration in Naples is back, and the spotlight is once again on major projects, primarily for the eastern area. This time the ice is being broken by Sistemi Urbani, the lead company of the Urban Pole of the Italian FS Group, which has ready a major project, presented yesterday at the headquarters of the Industrial Union during the event 'Naples to come', to stakeholders and interested investors: we are talking about the 'Napoli Porta Est' plan for which the international call for tenders is about to be published.

The 'Napoli Porta Est' project insists on the areas of the former FS freight yard in Corso Lucci and Porta Nolana: an area covering a total of 180,000 square metres, in which the tracks between Porta Nolana (today the Eav terminal station) and the central station are to be covered. The latter will become an intermodal hub in connection with the motorway, port and airport. Public and private investment of 1 billion is planned for the entire project. Of this 700 million in state funds will go to infrastructure. An initial funding of 100 million has been approved and is earmarked for the new Eav station in Piazza Garibaldi. The tender has been awarded, there has been an appeal and the Tar is awaited. The actual urban redevelopment part will fall to the private sector, in the area that also includes the port and the business centre. To implement the project, on 11 September, the Campania Region, Naples City Council, Eav (Circumvesuviana and Cumana), Rfi and FS Sistemi Urbani signed a programme agreement that envisages, among other things, the international design competition for the drafting of the master plan, including the design of the Campania Region's head office. "We have worked in synergy with the local institutions in a short time," says Umberto Lebruto, CEO and managing director of FS Sistemi Urbani, "a model that can set a good example. Rfi in the whole of Campania has an investment plan of more than 23 billion, which includes infrastructure for high-speed trains, regional and metropolitan connections.

The redevelopment to the east is part of a broader process that also includes work in the Campi Flegrei area. Naples, in short, confirms itself as a city in which urban regeneration can have important economic and social spin-offs. A study by Scenari immobiliari reveals that regeneration processes will affect about 3.5 million square metres (3% of the municipal territory) by 2050. In particular, as Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari, explained, the valorisation of the former railway yards, partly owned by FS Sistemi Urbani for about 45 hectares, can produce added value of about EUR 700 million. "Let us prioritise infrastructure and overcome the immobilism of 20 years," said Naples mayor Gaetano Manfredi. "We have projects for 7 billion," clarified the governor of Campania, Vincenzo De Luca, "construction sites for 6 billion are underway.

De Luca, in a discussion with the president of Confindustria Napoli, Costanzo Jannotti Pecci, lamented the industrialists' lack of reaction to the government's actions 'that block the South: Fsc blocked, single Zes, differentiated autonomy'. "We take on a role of stimulus and proposal," replied Jannotti Pecci. "We ask for the release of funds, on the ZES we have appreciated the extension to the entire South. Now we are asking for it to be operational. As for differentiated autonomy, then, we are those who were the first to oppose it'.