The effects of geopolitics reverberate all the way to Piazza Risorgimento. The international crisis, which has persisted for four years and culminated in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, is also being felt in the price lists for materials for public works. To such an extent that the completion of projects already financed on the basis of now outdated price lists is at risk. This is the case with the reconstruction of the Galilei and Alberti schools in the city center: the 13 million euros allocated six years ago are no longer sufficient to complete the works (which have not yet started), and the Province has been forced to send a preventive SOS to the Region for the essential integration of funds. A brief step back to recall the facts leads us to last April 22, the date when the Urban Planning Office of the Municipality of Benevento issued the building permit for the demolition and reconstruction of the relevant section of the Alberti technical-commercial institute in Piazza Risorgimento. In practice, this was the last bureaucratic step needed to start the project, after a similar provision was granted at the end of March by Palazzo Mosti for the adjacent Galilei institute. Both buildings are to have the entire rear section facing Via Pertini demolished, an area used for classrooms and laboratories until two years ago. These structures, built in the 1950s, have thus already reached 70 years of age—enough to warrant their demolition, even if only partially. Seismic vulnerability checks commissioned by the Province have also revealed that demolition and reconstruction are technically and economically preferable, in order to comply with technical implementation standards in effect since 2018. The works will also improve the buildings’ energy efficiency and facilities. The Piazza Risorgimento area is classified in the municipal urban plan as reserved for public facilities and services of territorial interest. To begin the works, it was therefore necessary to wait for the building permits for renovation (without an increase in volume) from the Municipality. The parts of the two buildings facing Piazza Risorgimento, which house the entrances and administrative offices, will not be affected by the works and are still partly used for these functions. THE LONG WAIT The process of assigning the two twin construction sites has already been defined: the Galilei project was awarded to the Poseidon Consortium of Chieti and the Alberti project to the Aico Consortium of Rome. However, the long period since the contracts—dating back to 2021—has made the amounts indicated in the award documents outdated: 4,796,584 euros for the renovation of the historic surveyors’ institute, and 4,659,878 euros for the former business school. In total, about 10 million out of the 13 million in total funding granted in 2020 by the Ministry of Education as part of the regional project portfolio. These resources could even have been returned, considering the long time elapsed since the allocation. This prospect was avoided by the Province thanks to repeated requests for extensions, the latest of which was granted by the Ministry’s Directorate General for School Construction on October 15, extending the use of the 13 million allocated by Decree 42 of June 30, 2020, until September 30, 2027, as part of the “National School Building Program 2018 – 2020 / European Investment Bank loans.” THE EXTRA COSTS Nothing is missing, except for one “small” detail: 3.5 million euros. This is the amount indicated by the Province in the recent request for additional funding sent to the Region, the local liaison with the government for managing ongoing projects. These funds are necessary; without them, the two projects would remain unfinished in the city center—an unthinkable prospect that should reasonably be avoided through the identification of a suitable technical and accounting solution.
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