“Thanks to the Honorable Michelotti we learned of Enac’s intentions to invest 1,850,000 euros in Ampugnano and that ‘the Government is showing great attention to our territory'”, intervenes the Committee against the expansion of Ampugnano. The airport and the prospects for its relaunch have been at the center of attention and discussion for days and the local Committee has once again immediately taken a position.
“If this were really the case – continues the Committee’s note – your Government, instead of dealing with small interests (see Panerai), should first of all deal with the implementation of the National Airport Plan (PNA), approved in 2015”, which, in essence, transfers the competences regarding regional and local airports to the Regions, in agreement with the local authorities.
“At the basis of the Plan, in addition to the rationalization of the airport system – the Committee recalls – there was the assumption that the State would eventually finance only the airports of national interest, freeing itself once and for all from the burden of the smaller airports, capable only of squandering public money”.
And the numbers of waste are cited: “From 2000 to now, about 17 million euros have been spent on Ampugnano, with the Siena Airport company that was closed due to bankruptcy without any tangible results”.
“The triumphal announcement that Enac will invest 1.8 million in Ampugnano leaves us somewhat perplexed – the note continues -, it would be a further waste of public money and because we have the well-founded suspicion that ENAC is acting in a way that is not entirely transparent. Are the construction of new hangars for the parking of aircraft that cannot find space in Florence or are they for the maintenance workshops envisaged in the Panerai project? If Ampugnano’s destiny is to become a workshop, with continuous test landings and take-offs, for Sovicille it would be a disaster and its economy based on quality tourism that respects the environment would suffer a mortal blow”.
Finally, the Committee concludes, “considering that the Honorable Michelotti, instead of speaking with the Municipality of Sovicille, prefers to deal with the Mayor of Siena, why doesn’t he propose moving the airport to the territory of that Municipality?”.