Post-disaster reconstruction, ten years to complete. First yes by the Chamber to the bill

A 'coordination cabin' for reconstruction in the affected territories for which a state of reconstruction of national importance has been declared will be established by a Prime Ministerial Decree or Ministerial Decree, with the mission of assisting the commissioner. Chaired by the commissioner, its members include the heads of the Casa Italia and Protezione civile departments of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the presidents of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces concerned, the metropolitan mayor, where existing, and Upi and Anci representatives. The technicians of the competent ministries and any other subject, public or private, 'deemed useful for the representation of the interests involved and the issues dealt with' may be invited to the meetings. Through ad hoc directives, the prime minister or the delegated minister will ensure, at the technical level, 'unitary direction, respecting the peculiarities of the territories and contexts, for the exercise of the function and the performance of reconstruction activities'. At the governance level, the examination in Montecitorio has introduced another body: the Conference of Reconstruction Commissioners, to be set up at the Casa Italia Department, a permanent coordination structure to 'encourage the sharing of data, information and best practices'.

The bill establishes in the autonomous budget of the presidency of the Council a Fund for reconstruction (the manoeuvre for 2025 allocates 1.5 billion in 2027 and then 1.3 billion annually from 2028) and a Fund for the operating expenses of the extraordinary commissioners for reconstruction. As established by an amendment approved in committee, the publicity of the funds 'shall be ensured through the use of IT platforms and digital tools interconnected with the single transparency platform' established at Anac. Reporting will also have to be transparent and published on the institutional website of the extraordinary commissioner.

The rest of the bill regulates the general system of public and private reconstruction. Within 18 months of the commissioner's appointment, the municipalities are called upon to approve or adapt the urban planning related to reconstruction as well as to update the specialised studies, including those for seismic microzoning and those for the hydrogeological planning maps, preparing implementing urban planning instruments complete with the relevant financial plans. The objective is to plan reconstruction work on public and private buildings and infrastructure in an integrated manner.

Implementation urban planning instruments are excluded from the strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and from the verification of their submissibility to the procedure if they do not simultaneously envisage three conditions: an increase in the settlement population, calculated by attributing 120 cubic metres of building volume to each inhabitant to be settled, with respect to the resident population based on the data of the last general population census before the resolution of the state of reconstruction; an increase in the urbanised areas with respect to those existing before the disaster; works or interventions subject to environmental impact assessment procedures or impact assessment.

With regard to private reconstruction, it will always be a law to establish the types of intervention (always subject to the issuance of static or seismic authorisation), damage and expenditure eligible for contributions, as well as the conditions and thresholds for contributions. The same rules will identify the subjects eligible for public contributions for reconstruction and the allocations from the Reconstruction Fund. For the territories in which a state of national reconstruction has been declared, within twelve months the commissioner will carry out a reconnaissance process distinguishing the priority interventions for the immediate repair and local reinforcement of residential and productive buildings, including those in which early childhood education and care services and sports facilities are provided, which are lightly damaged, from those for the restoration or punctual reconstruction of the same buildings, which are seriously damaged. The commissioner is also responsible for identifying the integrated reconstruction of seriously damaged or destroyed historical or urban centres and nuclei and for defining the guiding criteria for interventions to make the restoration or repair of buildings compatible with the protection of architectural, historical, landscape and environmental aspects, also through specific indications aimed at ensuring eco-sustainable architecture and energy efficiency.

The text also regulates in detail the procedure for the payment of contributions. The application must be submitted to the municipalities, enclosing the documentation required for the issuance of the building permit, the AeDes form, any eviction order, and the sworn technical report and project of the proposed interventions, with the estimated metric calculation showing the amount of the contribution requested. In contracts between private parties, the financial traceability clause is always mandatory, with which the contractor also assumes the duty to notify the commissioner, within 15 days of becoming aware, of any failure of its subcontractors or subtenants to comply with the same obligations.

The bill lists five special plans to be adopted by the extraordinary commissioner within twelve months of his appointment: public works, cultural heritage, hydrogeological instability, environmental infrastructure, state infrastructure.

The Regions, the Ministries of Culture or of Infrastructure and Transport, the State Property Agency, the dioceses, the universities and the local authorities themselves, if delegated by the governors, may be responsible for the repair, restoration or reconstruction of public works and cultural assets. A permanent conference may be set up to monitor and accelerate the work. The implementing bodies make use of a single central purchasing body.

Undertakings that have taken out policies may request immediate settlement, within the limit of 30% of its amount, of the total indemnifiable damage under the insurance contract taken out, as estimated by a certified expert's report.

A new article, Article 25, 'Interventions for development', has been added to the text, according to which 4% of the annual appropriations for reconstruction after individual disasters may be allocated, within the framework of a development programme approved by the extraordinary commissioner, to the valorisation of territorial, productive and professional resources, the promotion of direct and indirect employment effects, and the increase in the supply of goods and services related to the well-being of citizens and businesses.

The bill delegates the Government to adopt, within one year of the law coming into force, one or more legislative decrees to define insurance schemes to indemnify citizens and businesses against damage to buildings. The Executive will have to identify the group of subjects, the type of eligible buildings, the insurable risks and damages that can be indemnified, and the extent of the insurance limits, in order to "ensure adequate and uniform coverage throughout the national territory". And it will promote at Consap the establishment of a role of experts for the economic estimation of damage caused by calamitous events.