The Darsena Europa Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been endorsed. Approval from the Environment Ministry’s National Commission plus recommendations came on Monday. It still needs to be formalized with the publication of a special decree. The EIA also has to be sent on to the Ministry of Infrastructure, which is responsible for final evaluations. Nevertheless, the Commission’s approval is still an important step forward for an infrastructure project as construction work can now soon begin.
“We do not know what the recommendations entail; we are waiting to receive them. It must be said, however, that the approval is an important milestone for the project. It points in one direction: the beginning of the construction phase of an infrastructure that the port’s business cluster has been waiting for decades,” said Project Commissioner, Luciano Guerrieri.
“I must thank all our commission staff for their excellent work, first of all Deputy Commissioner Roberta Macii and Senior Technical Dept. Manager Enrico Pribaz, who followed the long administrative process step-by-step. I would also like to thank the Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini and Deputy Minister, Edoardo Rixi, for their support. Likewise, I extend my warmest thanks to the Minister of the Environment, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin.
The project envisages, in the first phase, the construction of public facilities: a 4.6 km outer breakwater will be built, consisting of the new breakwater above the Diga Nord breakwater (and the new Meloria breakwater with the demolition of the old one.) In addition, 2.3 km of internal breakwaters will be built to delimit the new containment basins (100 hectares), which will be added to the existing ones (70 hectares), already in the process of being consolidated.
The dredging operations are designed to provide the foundations for the new works, deepen the access channel seabed and the create basins and internal docks.
A total of 15.7 million cubic metres of sediment will be dredged. The seabed at the entrance to Darsena Europa access channel will be dredged to – 20 metres and -17/-16 metres (potentially -20 metres in future) in front of the infrastructure’s new quay. The dredged material will be put into the new containment basins, which will become the new ro-ro terminal in the second phase of the project.
While the public facilities are being completed, awarding procedures for the construction and operation of the container terminal will begin. It will have a 1.2 km quay and all the necessary equipment to accommodate the latest generation of ships.
Translation by Giles Foster
