Moses and Venice, an endless story. Meanwhile: 187cm of water on November 12th, 130cm on November 13th. The worst for the city could be behind us and while the damage count begins – hundreds of millions of euros according to the mayor Luigi Brugnaro - the controversy rages over the Mose, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Italian history which should have had the task of protecting Venice precisely in cases like these, avoiding deaths, flooding and damage to monuments, homes and hotels. But the Mose, after decades of projects and works that have required several billions of public money, is not yet ready, blocked by a shower of technical problems, but also and above all by scandals, arrests, commissioners and political quarrels. It should (perhaps) go into operation at the end of 2021, five years behind the previous roadmap which set the delivery date in 2016. To address a situation that remains problematic, the Government has appointed Elisabetta Spitz, already head of the State property, new commissioner of Mose.
MOSES: WHAT IS IT
The biblical references of the name are evident, but technically Mose is the abbreviation of Electromechanical Experimental Module. It is a huge system of retractable mobile dams that should act as a barrier and stop the tides that enter the lagoon from the Adriatic, dangerously raising the water level. In all we are talking about four barriers placed in three inlets (two at the Lido, one at Malamocco and one at Chioggia) and made up of 78 sluice gates, metal caissons between 18 and 29 meters wide attached to huge concrete blocks placed on the seabed.
To guarantee the normal functioning of the port, when the gates are raised, small navigation locks have been provided in Lido and Chioggia which allow the entry and exit of pleasure boats, rescue vehicles and fishing boats and a larger navigation lock at the mouth of Malamocco for the transit of ships.
The Consorzio Venezia Nuova, a union of local and national companies and cooperatives, was built and managed by the MoSE, but in 2014 it was commissioned by the State due to a huge scandal relating to illicit funds and corruption.
MOSES: HOW IT WORKS
To avoid disfiguring the landscape of the Lagoon, the sluice gates are filled with water and remain placed on the seabed for most of the time. When the high tide exceeds the threshold of 110 centimetres, the sluice gates are emptied by introducing compressed air inside them. As the water leaves, the gates rise and block the flow of the tide entering the lagoon, preventing Venice from running into danger.
The project foresees that the retractable dams resist tides up to 3 meters high. Not only. In theory, if climate change causes sea levels to rise, the Mose will be able to govern an average level 60 centimeters higher than at present.
MOSES: THE HISTORY
The history of Mose has very distant roots. In fact, talks began about the possible construction of a barrier to protect Venice after November 4, 1966, when the high tide reached a record level of 194 centimeters, devastating the city. Over the years many projects were examined and in April 1984 the solution of retractable dams was chosen. Subsequently it was an inter-ministerial committee for the safeguarding of Venice (better known as the Committee) which on April 3, 2003 definitively approved the Mose project. The following month, the then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi laid the foundation stone in the context of the opening ceremony of the works.
According to initial forecasts, MOSE should have been ready in 2011, but it soon became clear that the deadline would be impossible to meet. The date was moved to 2016.
MOSE: THE SCANDAL AND THE ARRESTS
We arrive at the black year, 2014. The Venezia Nuova Consortium is involved in a huge scandal linked to bribes and corruption and the works are blocked. 35 arrests, including the Minister of the Environment and Infrastructure Altero Matteoli (Berlusconi government), sentenced to four years and the former president of the Veneto Region Giancarlo Galan (supported by Lega and Forza Italia), who then negotiated a sentence of 2 years and 10 months. In 2017 Galan was sentenced by the Court of Auditors to compensate the State for 5,8 million euros, while between the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, the former Governor was involved in another investigation for international money laundering and abusive exercise of financial activities.
The investigations and the related judicial controversies inevitably slowed down the work, causing the work's delivery date to be further postponed.
MOSES: WHERE IS IT
"According to the contract, we will deliver the work on 31 December 2021. As for the systems already in place, we are not talking about deterioration, but certainly the first bulkheads that were put up in 2014 need maintenance", he informed HuffPost the New Venice Consortium.
The builders also declared that, in percentage terms, 94% of the work was completed. We are currently in the testing phase. During a test carried out in October, some vibrations considered dangerous were recorded, causing other postponements. According to theHandle, the final systems of the system are expected to be completed on 30 June 2020, then we will move on to the experimental management of the work.
MOSE: HOW MUCH IT COST
To date, the Mose has cost 5,3 billion of public money. It is estimated that the total expenditure for the project could reach up to 7 billion, but then it will also be necessary to think about maintenance: official calculations speak of 80-90 million euros a year needed to make the work work properly, but according to many experts the figure will exceed 100 million, considering above all that appraisals and checks on the hinges of the gates have found signs of failure even before the Mose comes into operation.
