A giant with a turnover of 11,2 billion, 81 employees and a network of 44 km of tracks and paved roads. These are the numbers of the Ferrovie-Anas group, the new public giant officially born this week with the go-ahead from the Antitrust and signature from the Treasury, which has subscribed to a capital increase of 2,86 billion euros to support the operation.
The integrated pole between railways and roads will have a firepower of 8 billion in investments this year and as many as 108 in the next 10. According to Anas, the spending capacity will double in three years, going from 1,5 to around three billion in 2020. only: the company that manages the road and motorway network begins a process that will lead it progressively outside the perimeter of the Public Administration. A decisive step, as explained by Gianni Vittorio Armani, president and managing director of the company.
What changes for Anas with this operation?
«The entry of Anas into the FS Italiane Group opens up a series of investment opportunities. Having a shareholder who can invest in the development of the company without being burdened with public debt gives us a whole new perspective. We were created as an autonomous road company, but we have never been treated as a company, nor have we ever been financially independent. Until now we have been a company "with the hat in hand", which every year had to ask for money to survive the following year».
What numbers are we talking about?
«For the first time, thanks also to this operation, we have a program contract with 33 billion in investments over 10 years. The previous program contract financed six months of investment and two years have passed since then».
How do you plan to use these resources?
«There are three main guidelines: valorisation of existing road assets through a scheduled maintenance plan, completion and enhancement of strategic itineraries, new works».
Let's start with the first.
«Anas, in stark contrast to the past, is focusing heavily on maintenance to enhance existing assets and offer better service to road customers in terms of greater safety and driving comfort. As part of our 2016-2020 multi-year planning, over 10 billion are earmarked for the maintenance of roads, bridges, viaducts and tunnels. Over 8 billion are earmarked for the completion and upgrading of strategic itineraries and almost 4 billion for new works.
Other strategic lines of investment?
«Technological development of our network and operations abroad».
Explain us better.
«Technological development is a major challenge for our country, essential for improving the efficiency of vehicles and the safety of travel. One of the challenges we intend to overcome is the reduction of the accident rate, because we still have about 3 fatal accidents a year in Italy. If we want to succeed, we need investment in technology. Anas alone could not have done them, but now, in the group logic with FS, it is possible».
What are the technologies implemented?
«Anas has launched the "Smart Road" program with the aim of gradually extending it to the Anas road and motorway network, with an investment of 160 million euros. It is a highly innovative project, one of the first in the world in the road sector. The "Smart Road" equips the road arteries with a latest generation technological infrastructure that marks the transition from purely material works to infrastructures that interact with users, creating two "technological corridors", one for communication for the transmission of the information content detected and one energy to power the survey and communication technologies installed. The first “Smart Road” interventions will be on the A2 Autostrada del Mediterraneo, on the Grande Raccordo Anulare of Rome and on the A91 Roma-Fiumicino motorway; 30 million euros for the technological equipment along the 'Orte-Mestre' itinerary of the E45 and E55 and 20 million euros for that of the A19 Palermo-Catania motorway".
And what about foreign investments?
«There is an interesting market in which Anas can also represent a vehicle for Italian companies, the market government to government. State agencies often need a reliable public interlocutor to be able to manage the development of infrastructure that would otherwise risk not being built. We have already moved in this area, also with Ferrovie, in Uruguay and Qatar. Thanks to these operations, Italian companies have the opportunity to work in otherwise inaccessible markets».
