photo ansa.it

I gave an interview to Umberto Rosso of la Repubblica about the tragedy related to the collapse of a bridge on the Catania-Siracusa motorway.

UR: Minister Di Pietro, on the day that the closure of the ANAS construction site was announced, there was a dramatic work accident.
ADP: It’s the “general contractor” system that’s not working. The race against time to hand over a completed unit of work means that safety at work is being ignored. And then we cry for those who died. As for the closure, it’s too easy to say that the money has finished.

UR: What does that mean?
ADP: It means that I want to know why and how the money has finished.

UR: And have you discovered that?
ADP: A few weeks ago I had sent out a cry of alarm myself about the lack of cash in ANAS’s coffers. Since then I certainly haven’t been idle. In this first phase of activity as Minister of Infrastructure, I have thus been busy finding out the situation before taking action.

UR: Have you thus discovered how the coffers come to be empty?
ADP: For a multitude of reasons. These include the improper use of money, for reasons that are different from those for which it was allocated.

UR: These are serious accusations, especially coming from a Minister with the name of Antonio Di Pietro.
ADP: I have come across a series of situations and threads to be followed up. These are lines that are criminal, civil, administrative and accounting.

UR: Have you already informed the competent authorities?
ADP: On Tuesday I will talk about this at the meeting of the Public Works Committee called first in the Lower House then in the Upper House. I will ask the presidents to consider keeping secret this part of what I have to say. It will be up to them to decide whether to do that.

UR: Was this “improper use” of ANAS money that you are denouncing something that happened under the management of the Berlusconi government?
ADP: I can’t say more. It is certainly something very serious, and I will talk about it in detail with the Parliamentary committees. It almost seems that the Centre Left has no wish to complete the construction work, but those others have even eaten the Coliseum…..

UR: Will you also talk about the Catania-Siracusa accident in Parliament?
ADP: I have organised a ministerial inspection and I expect to get the dossier about the causes today. Generally, I believe that it is the new model of awarding contracts that is not working, since it is based only on the logic of wild deregulation.

UR: The “general contractor” system means a risk to safety at work?
ADP: The system entrusts to a single entity all the steps to bring about a particular construction. That includes the measures put in place for safety and for ensuring that regulations for accident prevention are adhered to. But almost always, the general contractors find themselves to be in a situation of conflict of interests.

UR: What does that mean?
ADP: The race to finish the work to be handed over leaves the safety of the workers in second place.

UR: How do you think you can change that, Minster?
ADP: By having a third party in charge of managing the money and of watching over safety. This would be someone standing between the commissioning body and the general contractor. Today it’s as though you had the majority shareholder of a company selecting who is to audit the accounts. In that case the auditors would obviously not go against the accounts of the “owners” of the company. And in the construction sites, unfortunately, only the interests of those who have won the contract are those that count. They have all the cards in their hand.