“Strategic investments to enable our Network ports to take full advantage of the recovery and reach new targets in terms of environmental sustainability,” This is how the president of the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority commented the news of the approval by the Ministry for Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility of the decree schemes containing the program of port infrastructural interventions and the associated allocation of funding.
In the resources foreseen by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan Complementary Fund – 2.8 billion euros from 2021 to 2026, 1.47 billion euros of which are allocated for the development of harbour accessibility and the resilience of port infrastructures to climate change and 390 million for the selective increase of port capacity- 16 million euros have been set aside for Livorno for the quayside supply of electricity for container ships at the Darsena Toscana and Darsena Europa terminal facilities , and 29.5 million for the supply of electricity from the quayside for cruise ships and Roro Pax ships in the passenger area of the port.
The largest project in economic terms, worth 71 million euros, is planned in Piombino where the new access road to the port has been fully financed with an allocation of 55 million euros. A further 16 million euros has been set aside for the supply of electricity for ships at the quayside. In Portoferraio, too, 16 million euros will be reserved for the supply of quayside electricity for cruise ships and Roro Pax in the passenger area.
All the funding will be disbursed to the North Tyrrhenian Port Network Authority, which will manage it. “We will have the opportunity to develop important initiatives in the cold ironing field in our ports” – Mr. Guerrieri added – “quayside electrification is a key factor in the upcoming Port Network Environmental Energy Document and the decarbonization policies that the Port Network Authority intends to pursue. Similarly, the 55 million euros allocated to finance the new access road to the port is strategic for Piombino. We can only thank Minister Giovannini for the attention he has paid to our Network ports. We would also like to thank the President of Tuscany Regional Administration, Eugenio Giani, who, together with Regional Councillor Stefano Baccelli, set the distribution of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan complementary fund at the State-Regions Conference.”
President Guerrieri also announced that the Ministry for Ecological Transition has been asked for additional resources from National Recovery and Resilience Plan funds to implement some of the initiatives set out in the Port Network’s Environmental Energy Document (Deasp) : “Investments of 32 million euro are in the process of being approved, to be allocated to the planning of some of the contents of the Deasp,” said Mr. Guerrieri. “The funding is on its way. It will allow us to guarantee the real, long-term, environmental sustainability of our port network through innovative, technical and organizational solutions linked to the supply of energy and the energy efficiency of our infrastructures.”
Translation by Giles Foster
