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Milan, Bovisa: the works can resume

23 February, Il Giorno

The reclamation works of the old gasometers area can resume. The Council of State has resolved about the “lack of interest” for the reasons that the judges admitted in July 2016, concerning the request to suspend the works coming from the Committee “La Goccia” (the drop), which is the other name for the vacant area of Bovisa. According to the Council of State, the risk analysis carried out by the Municipality showed the compliance with the reclamation procedures which were contested by the protesters. The resolution allows to complete the decontamination works in the lot A, for about 40 thousand Sq m, 80% of which already completed, and in the lot B, for a total surface of 80 thousand Sq m. The plan implies that the area will be turned partly into parks and partly into the new Politecnico campus. “The works on the lot A will resume in about one month – communicated the Municipality of Milan. Finally, the reclamation process can continue, allowing the rebirth of an important part of the city that has been inaccessible for many years due to the heavy pollution”.

“Good news for the Milan people, the residents of Bovisa, and the students of Politecnico – comments Pierfrancesco Maran, the City Councillor for urban planning – The activities will restart soon to bring back tens of thousands of Sq m of gardens. The news made happy my predecessors in urban planning, Sandro Balducci and Lucia De Cesaris, as we’ve been waiting for this resolution for a long time”. The area was occupied since 1906 by the gasometers used for the illumination of the city, it was later used to generate energy. In 1994 the area was completely abandoned, and a period of long decline started. The presence of heavy metals, arsenic, cyanide, hydrocarbons and cancerogenic organic compounds was detected, needing a reclamation process to make the area livable and accessible again. The restart of the works has been possible thanks also to the 5 million euro from the Government “City Plan”. The requalification process had then continued with a support program to the residents started in 2014 in collaboration with the Architecture and Urban Planning departments of Politecnico in Milan.

Source: Il Giorno

Translator: Cristina Ambrosi