€400 million to councils to make schools, roads and public buildings safe

A total of €400 million is being given to councils to make their schools, roads, public buildings and cultural heritage safe.

The Ministry of the Interior decree, which implements subsection 107 of the 2019 Stability Law, was signed today, in accordance with the Finance Act.

These across-the-board contributions will be allocated to small and medium-sized municipalities as follows: municipalities with fewer than 2000 inhabitants will get €40,000 each; those with populations of between 2000 and 5000 inhabitants will get €50,000 each; those with populations of between 5001 and 10,000 inhabitants, €70,000 each; and those with populations of between 10,001 and 20,000 inhabitants, €100,000 each.

The individual municipalities must be informed by 15 January, and the funds can be used to finance one or more interventions, provided that these have not already been fully financed by other organisations, and that they are in addition to those planned for 2019. Furthermore, the work must be carried out by 15 May 2019.

The Undersecretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Stefano Candiani, explained, “At a time when municipalities are registering so many needs, this is a serious, pragmatic and concrete intervention, which all of our mayors can count on, already in the coming days.”

Fifty per cent of the contributions will be provided once it has been confirmed that work has begun, through the monitoring system, and the remaining 50%, after the Ministry of the Interior has received the acceptance certificate or the certificate issued by the works supervisor stating that the work has been correctly carried out.