Undergrounds, 3.1 billion tender in Naples

A major urban infrastructure in the Mezzogiorno is unblocked. The tender for the construction of the future Line 10 of the Naples metro system has officially begun. The work will connect the Afragola high-speed railway station with the city centre and the north-eastern quadrant of Naples, as far as Piazza Carlo III and, in a later stage, as far as Piazza Garibaldi, the neuralgic hub of Neapolitan rail and metro transport. A EUR 3.1 billion investment. It is a strategic infrastructure, which will revolutionise mobility in the north-eastern part of the city and will feature driverless, self-driving trains.

After the go-ahead from the Higher Council of Public Works, which at the end of July approved the project with some prescriptions in an extensive and accurate opinion, and the confirmation of funding to the City of Naples by the MIT (Ministry of Infrastructure), the technical and economic feasibility project was revisited by Eav (the public transport company) and the designers, allowing the tender for the executive project and construction to begin. In recent days, the tender notice was sent for publication in the Official Journal of the European Union: potential bidders will have until 3 November to submit their bids. The process is being led by the Eav, which aims to award the works by the end of 2025.

The initial funding amounts to EUR 1.2 billion, of which EUR 870 million was allocated to the City of Naples in the Trm (mass rapid transit) call for tenders for the metro system and EUR 330 million allocated by the Campania Region from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2021/27. The funds allow for the complete functional realisation of the Afragola-Casoria-Napoli Di Vittorio key section, where the interchange station with the Di Vittorio stop of metro line 1 is planned, currently being completed by Eav.

The objective, explains a note from Eav, is 'to have the financing completed, up to the required amount of approximately 3.1 billion euro, and the tender already foresees this possibility, with further MIT funds for rapid mass transport, already requested, to reach Piazza Principe Umberto via Piazza Carlo III in Naples and the high-speed station at Afragola'.

"Great satisfaction on the part of the City of Naples" is expressed by the city's mayor, Gaetano Manfredi, and the councillor for Infrastructure, Edoardo Cosenza, for the start of the tender for the construction of line 10. "An essential work for Naples and the metropolitan area," explain the mayor and councillor, "400 thousand citizens will be able to use a sustainable and rapid means of transport to connect with the entire city via the connection with line 1. In addition, there will be a very fast connection to Afragola high speed from where the Av trains for Irpinia and Bari will depart. Equally fundamental will be the connection to Piazza Carlo III and thus to the Albergo dei Poveri. A great institutional synergy of the City of Naples with the MIT and the Campania Region, which has borne truly remarkable fruit. A special thanks to the Superior Council of Public Works for its very careful evaluation of the project, which led to a substantial improvement. And a heartfelt thank you to Eav for managing the design and launching the tender,' Manfredi and Cosenza conclude.