Veneto, 43% of Pnrr construction sites completed. Oxygen from the Winter Olympics

In Veneto, 43% of Pnrr sites have already been opened or even completed. Better, in Italy, only Piedmont has done (46%). While in the rest of the North East, Trentino Alto Adige stops at 38% and Friuli Venezia Giulia at 41% (data referring to the end of 2023).

Last year, the public works sector in the Serenissima region showed a growth dynamic driven by the interventions of the Recovery and Resilience Plan and the closure, in December, of the 2014-2020 European Structural Funds programming cycle. Municipalities were responsible for a large part of local investment expenditure (+18.8% over 2022) amounting to EUR 161.8 million. This is a result that continues the positive trend shown since 2019 and that does not seem destined to reverse: the first quarter of 2024 marks a further increase of +38.1% compared to the same period of the previous year.

A great unknown weighs on this scenario, however. According to Ance Veneto, in fact, it will be necessary to wait the next few months to understand whether the revision of the NRP, approved by the European Commission on 8 December last, with the exit of many interventions in the hands of local authorities, such as municipalities (especially the strengthening of social services and infrastructures, such as kindergartens, land development and energy efficiency), will lead to a slowdown in investments. In fact, there are 3,009 projects located in Veneto, worth EUR 457.6 million, now outside the Plan's perimeter to be financed with different funds and implemented without the stringent time constraints required by Europe. A value that could rise up to 734.5 million, according to the builders, considering the partially defunded investment lines that could involve a further 276.9 million. On the other hand, this year the public works sector in Veneto will also be sustained by the investments linked to the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games, which will involve the regional territory for about 1.1 billion euro.

Ance also notes that on the resources of the 2014-2020 structural funds (ERDF and ESF), Veneto has not excelled: it has spent just over one billion euro (76.4%) out of the one billion and 300 million allocated, a percentage lower than the national average (82.4%). Pending the closure of programming, EUR 322m is at risk of being defunded. Meanwhile, the 2021-2027 programming has taken over. The region is the recipient of just over 2 billion (one from ERDF and one from ESF Plus): as of 31 December, the ERDF shows an advance in commitments of 4.7 per cent, while payments remain at a standstill at 0.6 per cent. The ESF+, on the other hand, has committed 19.5% of the funds and recorded a 4% level of payments.

Another chapter concerns the Fund for Development and Cohesion (Fsc) 2021-27, which allocates 607.6 mln euro to Veneto, of which 69.2 mln in advances, destined in particular for infrastructure investments. At the end of last year, data from the State General Accounting Office show an expenditure progress of 12.1% on advances, higher than the Italian average (7.96%). Among the projects financed, in the area of transport and mobility, are the variant to Regional Road 10 (Padana Inferiore) between Cerea and Sanguinetto, in the province of Verona, the Terraglio Est road completion, and the Adria-Mestre railway line. Land and water resource protection works are planned, in cooperation with the Consorzi di Bonifica (land reclamation consortia) and, in view of the upcoming Winter Olympics, the connection of the Civetta ski area with the Cinque Torri ski area, plus the construction of water reservoirs for snowmaking.