In Italy, at the end of 2020, the unfinished public works there were 393. The figure, provided by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Sustainable Mobility, is probably underestimated, since the Puglia region is not included in the count. L'Observatory on Italian public accounts, led by Carlo Cottarelli, however cites this number to underline one of the most serious risks facing Italy in the implementation of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Most of the funds arriving from Europe, in fact, they will end in the hands of the Regions, who have often shown that they don't know how to manage money and projects.
In detail, in 189 cases out of 393 the non-completion of the public work is explained by the lack of funds: a justification “which in any case denotes the incapacity of a good planning of the works”, writes the Observatory.
In other 138 cases, however, the incompleteness is traced back to "technical problems”, which once again are not enough to relieve local authorities of their responsibilities (indeed).
By far the most lagging Region is the Sicilia, with 133 unfinished works. They follow at a great distance Sardinia (53) Abruzzo (26) Lombardia (24) Calabria (23) Lazio (21) and Campania (19)
All of this has a cost: for unfinished public works up to 2020, Italy has disbursed over one billion euros, of which almost 70% borne by the Southern Regions. And if we wanted to complete them all we would have to pay more or less another 640 million.
Although between 2016 and 2020 the number of unfinished public works dropped significantly, from 698 to 393, the Observatory underlines that, in all likelihood, "the Covid-19 pandemic has contributed" to a further slowdown in unfinished works at the end of 2020.
For this reason "it is urgent to ensure that all regions are able to contribute to the implementation of the Pnrr - concludes the Observatory - This is particularly true for the southern regions, which receive a share of investments (compared to the population) higher than the other macro-areas and which in the past have shown greater difficulty in completing investments".
