In recent days, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has tackled the issue of the country's infrastructural development in a very concrete way. Firstly, he highlighted the great opportunity for the country that derives from over 150 billion EU funds to be allocated to infrastructure and innovation: an opportunity that requires precisely identifying the priority interventions capable of generating the greatest economic returns , environmental and social aspects for the country. The Premier also announced the Sblocca Italia decree to restart blocked construction sites and asked the Municipalities to indicate their investment priorities by 15 June.
“The 2013 Study of the Observatory The Costs of Not Doing, through the Cost-Benefit Analysis, proposes a clear order of priorities for infrastructural investments – underlines Professor Andrea Gilardoni, of Bocconi University, president of the Cnf Observatory -. Firstly, broadband and ultra-broadband networks which, thanks to their extreme pervasiveness, increase the productivity and efficiency of all sectors of the real economy, but also social inclusion and the quality of life. This is followed by investments in mobility and logistics, which are extremely important for increasing the competitiveness of our goods, and those in the energy sector and energy efficiency, an indispensable driving force for relaunching important industrial sectors in the country".
According to the Observatory, failure to carry out these works could generate almost €900 billion in Non-Doing Costs over the next sixteen years (about €60 billion a year): economic, environmental and social costs which weigh on the whole community.
From the Study “Towards a new Lombard infrastructure plan. Problems and methods of financing”, on the other hand, the infrastructural priorities expressed by local administrators emerge thanks to a survey of around 180 Lombard municipalities. These are: roads (25,7% of the priority works reported) and cycle paths (5,9%), schools (12,3%), energy efficiency of buildings (6,4%) and lighting (5,3% ), broadband (7,5%).
"These works, in Lombardy alone, could move over 13 billion in investments - says Gilardoni - with very positive effects on GDP, employment and environmental protection".
The relaunch of infrastructure investments must, however, pass through a series of policy reforms which we briefly recall here:
1. Insert the infrastructural choices into the country's overall strategy, bearing in mind the long-term political and economic objectives.
2. Select the implementation priorities through rational criteria and methods (aeCost Benefit Analysis) developed by competent subjects.
3. Develop cross-sector comparisons for efficient resource allocation.
4. Design the works soberly, avoiding overdesign, containing construction times and costs and optimizing management costs during the life of the infrastructure.
5. Rationalize the authorization and implementation processes by defining standardized and clearly structured procedures that leave no room for the repetition of decisions.
6. Privilege the most advanced technological solutions suitable for a more efficient use of the existing ones.
7. Invest in protection and security to guarantee the continuity and quality of the services provided.
8. Start a strong process of de-infrastructuring by rationalizing the existing systems and returning space to the territory.
9. Increase the consensus of the populations on works useful to the community. Developing tools for greater involvement in decision-making processes.
10. Promote the development of the PPP as a stable and continuous system for the construction, management and financing of infrastructures.
11. Adopt public governance systems with competent subjects capable of developing and proposing innovative models and solutions also for the purposes of financing.
