Municipal administrations will be involved in the operational implementation of projects for at least 30 billion euros by 2026. Municipalities with the youngest population and least specialized personnel are those with the greatest spending needs. It will be essential to strengthen and support the municipal administrative structures, especially in the planning and awarding phases of the works. These are some of the results of the new brief of CDP Think Tank entitled "The Pnrr and the challenges for Italian Municipalities".
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan provides that by 2026 the Municipalities will be involved directly, or through their subsidiaries, in the grounding of projects for an amount of at least 30 billion euros, which could reach 50 billion euros depending the volume of initiatives that will involve local authorities in the implementation phases. This could increase the annual spending capacity of Municipalities by at least 60%. Considering that, in the last 15 years, the capital expenditure of the Municipalities has decreased by an average of 3% per year, this flow of resources represents an important opportunity to meet the investment needs, which have remained partially unsatisfied, of the administrations municipal.
If the quantitative aspect is relevant, the qualitative one is even more so. There real challenge that awaits the Municipalities concerns the "where" and "how" the resources of the Pnrr funds will actually be used.
As regards where, according to the analyzes conducted by the Cdp Think Tank, the unsatisfied need for investments is greater in Municipalities characterized by: a younger population; a greater distance from the main infrastructural arteries; a recent contraction of the workforce or a low presence of specialized personnel.
Le hiring restrictions in the first decade of the 2000s, to limit public spending, between 2007 and 2017 they led to a 20% reduction in municipal staff, also reflecting on the average age: 67% of permanent employees are aged over 50 years old.
While for the "how", the volume of incoming funds is particularly significant when compared to the amount of capital expenditure traditionally managed. In fact, the full use of the resources envisaged by the Plan would require an increase in the annual investment capacity of the Municipalities of at least 60%.
Furthermore, the study underlines the importance of assisting the Municipalities in the realization of projects, especially in the planning and awarding phases of the works. The completion of these phases requires the Municipalities, on average, much longer times than those for carrying out the works.
In particular, the study shows that intermediate Municipalities (from 50 to 100 inhabitants) record longer implementation times, over 5 years. The report also shows that over the years the difference between the best performance, in terms of speed of implementation, obtained by the Regions and the worst recorded by the intermediate Municipalities, has widened, ranging from about 9 and a half months to over 20.
