TAV, one billion euros for the works:Val di Susa returns to protest

Telt, the Italian-French state company in charge of the construction of the cross-border section of the Turin-Lyon TAV, has announced the award of the one billion euro contract for the construction of the Italian section of the work.This is, in the intentions of the company's CEO, Maurizio Bufalini, the "historic milestone" that will start the excavation work of the Mont Cenis base tunnel, which divides Italy and France.If everything went according to Telt's designs, it would take 91 months to build the two tubes of the base tunnel and the Maddalena 2 tunnel (from which the tunnel boring machines will descend), the various connection tunnels and the connecting branches between the two tubes, as well as to the Clarea safety site and the artificial tunnel at the eastern entrance to Susa, for a total of 28.5 km of excavations.But there remain many unknowns for the great symbolic work that has been hanging over the Susa Valley for 30 years.Starting with the protests of the population of Val di Susa, who have firmly opposed the work for decades and also yesterday, 31 August, returned to protest with a long procession which ended in the "beating" of the construction site gates.A factor to which is added the hesitations of the French authorities regarding the actual completion of the works.

Estimates on the duration of the works are therefore approximately 7 and a half years starting from 2024, with the expectation of opening the tunnel to rail traffic from 2033.«From today we have all the construction sites in progress – ha stated the general director of Telt was triumphant, Maurizio Bufalini, in a press conference -.Today there is therefore a single binational construction site of 65 km between Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Susa/Bussoleno.On this construction site the rules are unique, even when it comes to anti-mafia.We are the only example of this type in Europe.Materials management is also binational.We can transfer and use the material that leaves France in Italy and vice versa.Previously these opportunities were denied by the border.Today more than ever we feel more and more responsible complete the work quickly and in a safe manner."

Yet, this hope appears, at least based on today's overview, to be risky to say the least.France, for its part, has repeatedly made it clear in recent months that it does not consider the work as one priority.THE'impasse, in particular, emerged quite clearly last May, when the Conseil d'orientation des infrastructures French had open to one slippage in the calendar of the work.This was then followed by reassurances from the Government, which stated that it does not intend to betray the commitments already made.On 22 June, during the intergovernmental commission, the transalpine authorities committed to financing with a budget of three billion euros the railway access routes to the base tunnel, however, causing the end of the works to be postponed to 2038.Thousands of French citizens who had been there a few days earlier then raised their heads reunited in a march to protest against the high-speed rail project.The demonstration was marked by intense clashes between demonstrators and the police, who did not skimp on throwing tear gas and violent charges against the activists.

On this side of the Alps, in Val di Susa, work on the construction of the high-speed train has been going on for months stalled.The assignment of the works on the Italian side has not yet been made but, at the same time, yes assists for some time to a real one militarization of the area.In the Chamber, at the trial involving some activists of the Turin social center Askatasuna, protagonists of vibrant protests against the work, it emerged that, in order to protect the preparatory sites of the TAV from protests, over the last 10 years approximately 30 million euros made of barbed wire, concrete jersey and 5 meter high barriers scattered among the woods.Maurizio Bufalini, director of Telt, stated that the company he manages has fully covered those costs.Which, however, remains a subject financed with public money.To these expenditure items we must add that for the deployment of a growing number of police forces from 180 to 200 thousand agents per year, with a peak of 261 thousand in 2021 alone.

In any case, the protests by No-Tav militants do not stop in Piedmont, nor their repression by the police.At the end of July hundreds of activists had marched in procession, as part of the High Happiness Festival of Venaus, for a "Fight walk” towards the San Didero and Chiomonte shipyards.The demonstrators proceeded with the typing of the gates and the throwing of some firecrackers, to which the police responded with water cannons and tear gas.On the sidelines of the end of the Festival, the Police had broken in in the No TAV garrisons, seizing the material found inside.A repression that does not stop the movement, which yesterday once again showed dissent at work.

[by Stefano Baudino]